


The Boy Who Killed

by YesNo_couldbeSo



Series: The Paladins of Hogwarts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Fluff and Angst, Magic, Multi, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25729573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YesNo_couldbeSo/pseuds/YesNo_couldbeSo
Summary: The first year at Hogwarts for our paladins. Shiro's a great teacher and is really there for Keith. Lance makes instant friends with Pidge, Hunk is already his best friend. Keith's past burdens him and fates him to a solitary life. But in hogwarts anything is possible, and there is a great tradition for falling in love with your rival or enemy.
Relationships: Acxa & Ezor & Lotor & Narti & Zethrid (Voltron), Acxa & Veronica (Voltron), Adam & Keith (Voltron), Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura & Keith (Voltron), Ezor/Zethrid (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: The Paladins of Hogwarts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866352
Kudos: 34





	1. The boy in the carriage

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fic. It was so fun to write, my best friend is an awesome editor and I love her. It's probably not the best but I hope you enjoy it. Please be nice but I would like constructive criticism so I can write better

Lance had never been so excited in his whole life, besides from receiving his letter. The Hogwarts express stood before him on platform 9 ¾. He looked around him and saw Hunk with his family. 

“Hunk!” he shouted and ran over to the larger boy, almost knocking him over in a hug. “See, what did I tell you! We are wizards and we’re going to Hogwarts!” he shouted excitedly and said hello to his best friends’ younger siblings. “I always believed you Lance. After you told me, I found out that magic does exist and got a subscription to the daily prophet,” said Hunk proudly. “Newspapers are boring, and I don’t understand why you started reading them,” Lance complained, taking Hunk over to his trolley. “It keeps me updated and I like the moving pictures.” 

They kept jabbering away to each other until there was a last warning to get on the train. “You be good Lance. Verónica, take care of your hermanito, no mischief you got it?” asked Lance’s mother. “Sí mama,” they said at the same time. His older sister waved to their parents as Hunk said goodbye to his. 

Veronica leaned down to him and whispered, “I’ll keep to myself if you keep to yours. And you can keep the cat, I know how much you like her, and we share a lot anyway.”  
“Gracias hermana,” said Lance as she rushed off to keep up with her friends.

They dragged their trunks aboard and started looking for an empty compartment. Every single one was full until they came across one with a single boy inside. He was leaning against the window reading a book. He had greyish eyes and raven hair in the awful hairstyle of a mullet. There was a big scar on his right cheek, which looked like it must have been painful. 

There was a small kitten, which was playing in the boy’s lap. It had thick blue hair on the back and warm grey underneath. He didn’t look up as Lance was about to open the door. Hunk caught his arm and faced him. “Not this one, let's keep moving.” He looked impassive but also, a little scared. 

“What? Why?”

“This kid’s already taken it, let's keep moving.”

“But he has a kitten, maybe it and Ladyblue can play together.” 

“Lance,” complained Hunk who still didn’t let go of his arm. “Fine,” he complied. They moved along. Lance didn’t know why Hunk seemed so scared of the boy; the only bad sort of thing about him was the hairstyle, which should have been left in the 80s.

Near the end of the train, there was a compartment with a single small kid in. They had thick brownish hair, which was quite long, hazel intelligent eyes and was also reading a book. Lance wasn’t sure if they were a boy, girl or other.   
Hunk opened the door and asked, “Can we come in?”   
“Sure,” they said. Hunk and Lance put up their trunks and Lance let Ladyblue out of her cage. “Awe she’s cute, what’s her name?” asked the kid. 

“Ladyblue, lady or blue for short cause she’s my little princess. I’m Lance and this is Hunk,” said Lance, putting his hand forward to be shaken. “Pidge, my brother gave me the nickname and I think it’s because he wanted his little sister to sound even nerdier, like him.” 

Ah, she was a girl. The way she said it made it seem like she was used to people not being sure what she was. 

“Are you a first year?” asked Hunk.   
“What gave it away?” asked Pidge, amused.   
“We are too, how did you discover you were a witch?” asked Lance. For some reason, he always liked to learn how people had discovered their magical power. 

“Well, my brother always showed off that he had magic and I tried to copy him. He can do pretty cool things without a wand so it can’t be registered as underage magic. When I turned 8, I managed to make a book fly past his head, and we got into a flying thing war.”

Lance laughed. “Fun. My oldest brother is a squib and my oldest sister isn’t very powerful. My middle big sister was the first one of us to be accepted to Hogwarts. And now, 2 years later I get accepted. My parents tried to teach me magic along with my sister so I wouldn’t live a muggle life. I managed to fly on the beach with my sister’s broom when I was 7. My parents were so happy, they promised to buy me a broom when I turn 11, and I would get a cat if I got accepted into Hogwarts.” 

“Cool, what about you Hunk?” 

“I’m muggle-born so it was a shock. Lance and I were friends in primary school, he got into a fight with a kid who was rude to me. It got really bad and I was scared, somehow, I made the kid fly off Lance. No one got in trouble and Lance tackled me later saying he knew I was a wizard. Our families became friends and honestly, I thought most of this was made up. But I’m literally on my way to learn magic, this is so cool!” 

They became fast friends with Pidge and talked the whole journey. After they changed into their robes, Pidge said they would need a way to communicate if they got sorted into different houses. She put a charm on 3 notebooks she had. Whenever they wrote in it, the words would show up in different colours. Hunk compared it to texting but neither Lance nor Pidge knew what that was. 

Finally, the train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade. Lance put Ladyblue back in her cage and Pidge made sure that rover, her owl, was secure in his. They made their way off the train and Lance caught sight of the boy from earlier. He put up his hood so Lance, and no one else, could see his face. 

Suddenly, the 3 friends heard a great shout. “First years! First years! This way please. First years!” Lance looked at who was shouting, it was a very tall man with bright orange hair and a big bushy moustache. 

A tall girl pranced over to him and gave him a hug. She was very pretty; she had silvery white hair, dark brown skin and bright blueish turquoise eyes. He wondered what a student was doing hugging a professor. She whispered something to him then waltzed away as the first years began to approach. 

The hooded boy walked straight over to the orange haired professor and said something to him; the professor looked sympathetic and patted the boy on the back. Lance couldn’t see his expression, but he bet the boy was surprised. 

Once all the first years were over to him, the professor started shouting again. “Hello all! My name is professor Smythe; I am the teacher for care of magical teachers. If you wish, you may call me Coran if you want to be on a first name basis. Now, it is tradition that first years make their way across the lake. If you please, let us away." 

The hooded boy went in the same boat as Coran with 3 other students. Lance went in one with his friends, a bluish haired girl with a headband, a blond girl with a crew cut and a boy with brown hair who looked like he was good at making friends and enemies. They arrived at the castle and unloaded without any problems. 

“I’m surprised,” said Coran to the hooded boy, “usually it rains or some boats tip. You lot are very lucky.” The hooded boy made no attempt at a response, so Coran let him be. 

As they walked up to the castle, he heard someone whisper, “Who’s that kid with the hood?”   
“Dunno, didn’t see his face,” said another. 

They stopped outside the great doors and a woman motioned for them to stop. “Good evening first years. I am professor McGonagall, teacher of transfiguration, and hood off!” she said suddenly. Everyone looked at the hooded boy, he shook his head.   
“Hoods are not to be worn indoors regardless of whether it is on your uniform. The only time students may wear a head accessory is their hat on special occasions and if they follow a religion which creeds it.”  
The boy made no move to take it off.   
“I wouldn’t make an enemy of mys…” she stopped short.   
The boy had removed his hood.

Everyone in the room gaped at him in horror. Lance kind of wanted to say, “jeez guys it’s just a mullet, no reason to burn him at the stake.” But he knew that wasn’t the reason everyone looked openly terrified. 

“R-right, well, ground rules will be announced by the headmaster. You will go in, line up in an orderly fashion and when I call your name, you will walk to the sorting hat and it will put you in a house. You will sit at your house’s table for the next two weeks. After you are allowed to mix tables, follow me.” 

She flicked her wrist and the great doors opened. The great hall was magnificent, a towering, cavernous room that made it quite impossible to see the roof. Stars hung in the darkness of the ceiling and candles floated over the mahogany tables, with many students in robes, with ties or scarves that represented their house already sitting at the corresponding tables. 

The first years walked down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, trying their hardest to get ahead while not jostling those already sitting. “The ceiling is enchanted to look like the sky outside. I read it in Hogwarts: A History,” Lance heard Pidge say but he wasn’t fully listening, he was busy staring at the boy with dark hair and the funny scar. 

Why was everyone so afraid of him? Was he a criminal? And how did Hunk know about him and not Lance? He bet Veronica didn’t know either. The boy looked like he was used to the stares of fear, Lance felt a little bad for him.

“It’s a new year and a new year learning. Sorting hat if you please,” said McGonagall. The ratty old hat sat on a stool and as soon as she stopped talking, it began to sing. A rip along the brim opening and a deep, rich voice spilling from within. Lance had heard Veronica talking about the hat, their parents had said that there was nothing quite like hearing it sing. Only now did he see how they were right. 

The hat sang a song of loyalty, bravery, wisdom and cunning, telling the stories of the founders and their school, of how kindness will always be appreciated and how loyalty shall be rewarded with trust. How that bravery is helping others to conquer their fears as well as facing your own. How wisdom and knowledge makes you as strong as any with physical prowess, if not stronger. How cunning does not make you untrustworthy but makes you even more trustworthy, more able to help others and lend your strength in tricky situations.

Finally, with the hat’s ballad finished, the hall erupted into applause with a couple whoops from a cheeky older student. He had short brown hair and smiled a small, mischievous smile. He looked a lot like an older version of Pidge. McGonagall shot a scowl his way but he just smiled more, then she started to read names off a scroll, each time the hat called out a house, the students from that house cheered. 

“Garrett Hunk,” she called out. Hunk walked over nervously. “Hmm, a heart of gold and relentless loyalty for friends and family. It must be, HUFFLEPUFF!” The table with black and yellow above it burst out cheering, Hunk looked ecstatic as he walked over and took his place at the table. 

“Holt Katie,” McGonagall called. Pidge walked forward and the hat was placed on her head. “Oh, such an inquisitive mind, no question about RAVENCLAW!” Pidge’s smile widened as the blue and bronze table clapped. She went and sat next to the boy who had provided the hat with a cheeky whoop, his short hair bounced as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. Looking pleased, he ruffled Pidge’s hair and then returned his attention to the hat. At this point, Pidge was positively beaming and gave Lance a little thumbs up. 

When a few more names had been called, McGonagall announced “McClain Lance.” He walked over nervously. “Now this one’s a pickle.” Lance winced at the words, fearing the worst. They had made a mistake, he wasn’t a good enough wizard, he had done something wrong, and he was going back home on the next train tomorrow. The hat interrupted, pulling him out of his thoughts “Courage and a caring heart. You care for everyone you can but will fight till the end, you must be a GRYFFINDOR!” 

The last word of this otherwise internal monologue was shouted to the entire hall. The red and gold table clapped, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to the table, sitting near to his sister but not next to her. She gave him a small smile. More names were called until 5 were left. 

Everyone had seemed to forget about the boy with the funny scar and hair until McGonagall announced, “Y Kogane Keith.” 

The entire great hall went utterly silent as every single face was contorted with silent fear. He looked over to his sister but she seemed as confused as him. At least now he knew the boy’s name.

***

Keith walked over to the sorting hat; everyone wore the same expression. Pure fear. What did he expect? People not to stare at him and his ugly scar? 

He sat under the hat and thought, “just put me in Slytherin, it’s what everyone expects.”   
“You want Slytherin aye?” the sorting hat asked in his mind, “but there are so many choices dear boy. You protect your honour, a Slytherin way of thinking. Your mind wishes to know all the knowledge in the universe, a superior Ravenclaw trait. You strive to protect those around you, a Hufflepuff way of life. But daring, fearless and brave are you, so I’d say, GRYFFINDOR!” the sorting hat shouted the last word, but it fell heavy in the deafening silence. 

If he’d thought the great hall was quite before, he was very, very wrong. Then, watched by wary eyes he trudged over to the table decorated lavishly and with a lion and sat at the end. People shied away from him, which was fine, it was normal after all. 

Memories flashed through his mind as the last few children were sorted. Shiro and Adam fighting over telling him who he was or not, and then Adam winning. Shiro had sat him down as he held his new kitten; he bought it for him in Diagon Alley as a present back in December. 

“Listen, at Hogwarts, people are going to be,” he paused looking for the right words, “ok there’s no way to sugar coat it. They’re going to be terrified of you Keith.” 

***

Just before the headmaster began to speak, Lance went over and sat next to Keith. As he walked over, many looked at him with expressions saying, “don’t.” He didn’t care. He plopped into the seat next to him and smiled. Keith looked confused. 

“Hi,” said Lance and held out his hand.   
“What?” Keith practically growled, even assisted by the small baring of teeth. Lance looked at him intrigued, but didn’t back down, “I’m Lance.” Keith looked him over.   
“Aren’t you scared?” he said, with a little less malice and a lot more confusion, but Lance only looked calm and annoyingly smug “Should I be?”

Professor Dumbledore proceeded to give a small speech about rules and a little history, ending with “But I am sure you are all very hungry after a long day of travel, so we must indulge in this rich feast that has been so lovingly prepared for us” and with a small smile, clapped his hands. Food magically appeared in front of them. 

Most of it Lance had never seen before, his mama only cooked Cuban food to remind them of home. Keith seemed to be ignoring his very existence. 

“So, should I be scared?” Keith’s head whipped up to look at him with cold piercing eyes, their faces were quite close. Lance noticed that the boy’s eyes weren’t actually grey, but were violet, reminding him of the flowers grown on his windowsill, and very pretty at that. 

“Considering most wizards' power manifests at around 8, mine came at the age of one, scared yet?” Lance shook his head refusing to be intimidated. He could tell some people were listening in. 

“Fine, well, do you know Zarkon?” Lance and the people listening winced at the sound of his name. “I killed him after he killed my father with his wand. I let out a burst of magic so powerful it destroyed the most evil wizard of all time. I’m the boy who killed!” Keith had said this with an even, almost dead tone but his eyes were dark with pride and malice, he clearly wanted this boy to get away from him. Lance’s mouth hung open in shock; how did he not know this? “Are you scared now?” Lance considered it for a moment, but he just wanted to be Keith’s friend regardless of his past. 

He shook his head. “Ha! Then you’re an idiot.” Keith went back to his food and didn’t pay him any mind.

Lance thought he had never been so annoyed. He just wanted to be Keith’s friend and he pushed him aside just like that! Was he even that powerful? Lance doubted it and made it his mission to outshine him; it would probably work since everyone was terrified of him. He got to the Gryffindor common room, and marched straight to his room, found his bed and started scribbling angrily to his friends in the notebook Pidge had gifted to him. Thank god Pidge’s charm worked. 

Just after yellow ink appeared on the page saying, “what happened,” Keith marched into the first year Gryffindor room. Lance glared at him and he took no notice. Thankfully, his bed was on the other side of the room. He got out a schoolbook and began to read. Who reads about the history of spells on the day before the first day of school? 

“Can I talk to you guys in person, writing for ages gives me hand cramps,” the blue ink said on the cream parchment notebook.   
“Sure, plenty of empty classrooms. We’ll meet on the third-floor corridor in 3 minutes,” the dark green ink shimmered to the surface in response. “C u guys there,” read the dark yellow ink. 

“Why are you using single letters?” asked the dark green ink as Lance pocketed the notebook and slipped out of the room.   
“It’s texting slang, c as in see and u as in you. There’s also stuff like gtg and brb, I’ll let you figure those last two out.”

The 3 friends met up in the corridor exactly 3 minutes later. It was a good idea, exactly halfway between all 3 common rooms. “You will not believe this,” said Hunk wearing a cloak over yellow pyjamas, “my common room is right next to the kitchen. The one of the Prefects told me you have to tickle a pear to get in. I absolutely cannot wait to meet the cooks.”  
“The Ravenclaw door asks a riddle to get in, I don’t think Hogwarts can get any better. Also, gtg means got to go and brb means be right back.”  
“Right,” said Hunk, “so why are you so annoyed?” asked Hunk, finally remembering the reason they had decided to meet up. 

“I tried to make friends with Keith Kogane and he just blew me off!” Lance huffed. Hunk and Pidge gaped at him. “What?”  
“What you! Don’t you know who he is?” Pidge almost shouted. “Yeah he told me and after I told him I’m not scared he just says I should be. I mean who does that?”  
“Y-you’re not scared of him?” asked Hunk. “Why should I be?” 

“He killed He-Who-Must-not-be-Named! At one-years-old! Powerful aurors tried and were killed!”  
“I’m not going to be scared of someone who did something bad when they were a kid! Your past doesn’t define you. But I am going to be mad at an asshole who pushed away literally the only person who tried to be nice to him.”   
They talked for hours about Keith, Lance and why both were idiots until they all agreed that Keith was an asshole. But Pidge and Hunk weren’t going to stop being scared and mad at him.

Lance finally slipped through the portrait hole at about one in the morning, tiptoeing silently back to his room he almost fell over when he saw that someone was still awake.   
Naturally, it was Keith.   
“Shouldn’t you be asleep? Tomorrow’s the first day of school.”   
“Same to you,” responded Keith with no emotion in his voice. That aggravated Lance, was he even human? Just as he was about to get under the covers, he looked back at Keith and gasped quietly, he was reading a book on advanced transfiguration and was reading with his wand lit, Lumos. 

“How in hell are you doing that?” asked Lance, not caring whether or not he was still annoyed. Keith looked at him. “What?” he asked, peeved.   
“Lumos is a third-year charm, how are you doing it if you haven’t been taught?”  
“It’s simple. Spells don’t differ when it comes to being advanced or not, you just need the right mindset. Lumos requires calm and wanting to see. I want to read in peace, so my wand is lit, and my book is open.” 

He went back to his book and pretended that Lance did not exist. He knew that Keith was powerful, he had just assumed that he wouldn’t know how to control it or just generally be bad and get annoyed. He put his head under the covers and tried to do the spell. 

“Lumos,” he whispered.   
His wand flickered. He groaned then tried to calm himself. He took a deep breath and thought [I want to see].   
“Lumos,” he said again, this time a little louder. He gasped in shock when the tip of his wand got as bright as Keith’s. He sat up with excitement and the covers fell off. He smiled at his wand then looked over at Keith. The book was now hiding most of his face, but he could still see the side with the scar. He could tell Keith was smiling, maybe he wasn’t all bad.   
“How do I turn it off?” asked Lance. Keith closed his book and put his wand on his nightstand. Thankfully, Lance heard him mutter, “Nox.” 

“It’s funny how many spells are derived from Latin,” said Lance, he might have imagined it, but he was sure Keith replied with a quiet “yep.”


	2. A great first day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of school. Keith learns the shocking truth about himself, he needs to keep his power under control. Lance manages to really get under Keith's skin for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really fun, Keith can be a real prick but at least we know a bit more about him. Thanks to my best friend who is incredible, this wouldn't have been possible without her.

Keith woke up unsure of where he was. Bright sunlight came through an ebony panelled window. His covers were red and gold; there were curtains all around him. He groaned and sat up, the only good thing about this arrangement was that everything was red, and he liked red. He dressed quickly and went down to the great hall.

On the way, he enchanted his red and gold tie to look green and silver. He knew what Slytherin traits were: self-honour, slyness and quick thinking. He fitted all those traits but for some reason the sorting hat put him in the house of idiots.

The practical definition of bravery is doing something when you know it’s stupid or scary but doing it anyway. He never understood why in all his books, Gryffindor was glorified. Intelligence, loyalty and honour were so much better than stupidity. And Shiro was the head of Slytherin and he wanted to be in the same house as him.

People gasped and muttered as he walked into the hall sporting the wrong tie. Just before he sat down, he felt a tug on his arm. He spun around to find himself face to face with a very annoyed Shiro.

“What do you think you’re doing,” he asked calmly letting go of his arm. People looked up at them scared and confused. “Why is professor Shirogane talking to the devil incarnate,” Keith bet they were wondering.

“I’m having breakfast,” said Keith coolly.

“Why are you wearing a tie belonging to the wrong house?” asked Shiro, crossing his arms, “you know that’s against the rules.”

“I was put in the wrong house; I’m righting a wrong.” Shiro rolled his eyes. “Don’t throw away your future, you’re here for a reason and break enough rules then I won’t be able to protect you.”

Keith sighed, Shiro was right. He just needed to get through the next 7 years. Avoiding people worked best and friends were distractions, not that he was good at making them anyway.

“Pigmentum novis,” he muttered and waved his wand at his tie. It returned to the original red and gold striped. Shiro looked at him shocked but pleased. “Just because I haven’t learnt a specific charm yet doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”

Shiro smiled at him with an undercurrent of something Keith couldn't recognise, “see you in class.” He walked over to the staff table.

The boy from the day before walked in and glared at him. Keith didn’t care, enemies were easier to keep than friends anyway. He learnt that from experience. The boy, whose name started with L or something, sat near him. The only reason he remembered the boy at all was because he talked to him and had a slight American accent with a little Spanish pronunciation.

He began to scribble in a small notebook. It was a muggle one, funnily enough. Keith looked over intrigued. The boy’s ink was a bright blue; as soon as he wrote something down, dark green ink shimmered to the surface and began to form into sentences. A dark yellow also appeared. The boy seemed to be having a conversation with students from other houses.

Keith was impressed; the charm ‘coetus scripturm’ was in his advanced spell book. He had no reason to attempt it so he never tried. He assumed the boy wasn’t the one to make the small charmed books. No offence to him but he didn’t seem much of an academic type.

About 45 minutes later, McGonagall came round handing out everyone’s schedules. Keith couldn’t understand why she did it by hand, he could think of 5 spells that could get it done faster.

He looked down at his new timetable. He had charms first (boring), astronomy second (he liked the stars), double defence against the dark arts (good that was Shiro’s subject) and herbology last (plants weren’t as fun as transfiguration and he wanted to turn a mouse into a teacup).

* * *

He trudged up the stairs, along with a few other first years, to the charm’s classroom. He kept his distance and they kept theirs. He wondered if everyone he met would be scared of him, it would be nice to keep it that way as he liked it when they stayed away from him.

He dropped into a seat at the back of the classroom and watched as everyone hurried to be as far away from him as possible. The charms teacher did not seem to understand the students’ fear of him.

The last 3 to enter the room were the boy from earlier, a tall muscular boy and a small child with long thick hair. The two flanked the boy’s sides and beat him to the last table. With an audible groan, he sat in the seat next to Keith and moved his chair as far to the left as possible.

“Good day new students. As some may know already, I am professor Slav, head of Ravenclaw house. I can tell some of you are staring at my abnormal abdominal form so I will address the matter. Yes, I do have six arms, and they can prove most helpful. Now, who can tell me what charm you use to make objects levitate?”

Keith knew instantly but decided against raising his hand. The child with thick brown hair shot their arm up just before the teacher had stopped speaking and just after the answer formed in Keith’s mind. “Yes you,” said the professor pointing at the student, “tell me your name then the spell.”

“Katie Holt sir, wingardium leviosa.” So the child was a girl, good to know, she seemed as smart as him, maybe smarter. “Very good Ms. Holt, are you in any way related to Matt Holt, you share a close resemblance.”

“Yes sir, he’s my older brother. Should I demonstrate?”

“Of course. Everyone watch Ms. Holt.” She took out her wand and made ready to levitate the feather in front of her. It was very pretty and had a vine like design on it. She flicked her wrist gracefully and said, “wingardium leviosa.” The feather began to float and move at the direction of her wand.

There was a short round of applause, lead by the professor clapping all six of his hands together, “very good Ms. Holt. Everyone, practice what Miss Holt has just demonstrated, remember the movement, swish and flick!” All the students started to practice the spell, all flicking their wrists at their feathers far too vigorously and sharply. Keith watched the antics, amused. Their teacher strolled around offering help, small tips and corrections to everyone.

“Wingardium leviosa _a_!” said the boy next to him and flicked his wrist somehow more vigorously than the rest of the class, it swung haphazardly and he almost jabbed the girl next to him. However he was too focused on his work to give anything other than a grunt of apology. Keith sniggered.

“You’re going to take someone’s eye out and besides, its leviosa. Not levi _o_ saa.” The boy glared at him.

“Then you do it if you’re so brilliant.” Keith obliged, he was never one to back down from a challenge and especially not one about a simple first-year spell.

“Wingardium leviosa,” he said smugly and flicked his wrist gracefully. The feather rose gently and was guided by where he moved his wand. He twirled his wand so that the feather did circles in the boy’s face. He swatted it away angrily as the professor said, “very, very good my boy. Do you mind telling me your name?”

“Keith Kogane,”

He noticed the teacher flinch a little, muttering to himself and his hands fiddling with each other (“of all the probabilities, I knew I should have worn purple socks!”) then composed himself.

Having procured a captivated audience, Keith decided to take the opportunity to show off even more. He flicked his wrist in the same manner as before but instead said the incantation in his head, directing it at his charms book. The book began to rise and move, nonverbal spells were always trickier but the looks on people’s faces were priceless when they realised that he could do them so easily.

The teacher gaped at him at the same time as the short girl piped up, saying, “how are you doing that?” The entire classroom sported a look of shock and fear (more fear than was actually necessary) but Keith shrugged it off.

“Nonverbal spells are trickier to do but are more practical, especially in combat, so that people won’t know what spell you’re doing.”

The teacher closed his mouth then spoke, “Impressive Mr. Kogane, 30 points to Gryffindor. But please keep practicing and feel free to help those who need it.” {Yeah} thought Keith, {like that's gonna happen}.

The class broke into a quiet chatter and resumed attempting to levitate feathers while Keith busied himself by making his book soar around the classroom for no reason, repeatedly faux dive-bombing the boy next to him and other random people in the class until Slav gave him a stern look, not reprimanding him yet but promising to, and giving the comment that he already had in some other probability.

After about 10 minutes of this, the boy was really starting to annoy Keith. He kept angrily flicking his wrist and jabbing at the feather with his wand.

Keith brought the book back round to his desk and said, “don’t you remember what I said last night?” the boy looked at him confused. “Spells require the right frame of mind and the right movement of a wrist. Levitation is graceful; you need to flick your wrist gracefully with a swish and a flick. Wingardium leviosa.”

His book began to float once again for the demonstration. The boy performed the same movements and his feather began to float, causing him (and secretly Keith, though he didn't know why and would never admit it) to smile. Heads turned to look at him, impressed.

Slav’s grin widened as he clapped his hands “Well done my boy, what is your name?”

“Lance McClain sir, you probably know my sister.”

“I do, I see this is the probability in which wandwork runs in your family. Would you like to tell us how you figured it out?” Lance smiled, “I figured out you just need the right frame of mind, graceful rather than aggravated.”

“10 points to Gryffindor, for excellent work.”

“Bitch!” Keith muttered angrily.

Lance seemed to take this as a compliment and flashed him a smug smile. He kicked Lance under the table and a kicking war broke out. They were discrete enough that neither of them got in trouble, however when Lance swung his foot and missed Keith he managed to kick the blond haired boy sitting on the other side of him.

The whole class took the advice given by Lance to heart however only Keith, Lance, Katie and the large, dark, buff boy sitting next to her were able to make their feathers float around. Katie seemed to especially enjoy tickling the dark boy next to her with the feather.

As they headed out, Keith was still extremely annoyed with Lance, the advice he had given him was something he just figured out while practicing magic on the train. He didn’t know why he had trusted Lance with the advice, but somehow it felt like a stab in the back when he told the whole class.

He was in half a mind to curse Lance with ‘densaugeo’ on their way to astronomy, which would teach him a lesson and be fun to watch, but he didn’t want detention and Shiro’s ‘disappointment’ face was hard enough to deal with.

***

Lance walked very proudly to his next class with Hunk and Pidge at his sides, as some kind of ridiculous entourage. They were both oddly quiet. “God, Keith’s face was priceless when I gave the whole class his advice.”

“Hmm?” asked Pidge, Lance’s face dropped.

“Why are you guys so quiet?”

“I think the newspapers under-exaggerated Keith’s power,” sighed Hunk.

“I doubt it. Just because he can do nonverbal spells, what even are those Pidge?”

“Spells where you say the incantation in your head so no one can hear which spell you're using. We’re supposed to be taught them in our 6th year but barely anyone is able to do it just after learning. And Keith does it just like that,” she snapped her fingers.

Lance smiled, “Whatever, I got him really annoyed in class anyway. I managed to make him tell me exactly how to do it and I told the rest of the class, ha!” Hunk giggled at this, “That’s a pretty good tactic I have to admit. Maybe this ‘rivalry’ thing you came up with is actually going to work and people will know who you are.”

“That’s the plan my friend. Then we’ll be super popular and take Keith’s spotlight.”

* * *

Astronomy was fun, Lance always loved looking at the stars with Veronica back home and now he got to chart them. The whole point of it was to find the meaning behind their locations and movements.

He had always thought space was fascinating and wished wizards were less earth-bound, unlike muggles who were always trying to get to space.

Professor Te-osh taught them about planetary orbit and how their placement could give different messages. The one that Lance remembered clearest after their first lesson was when you see Mars and both its moons.

It meant an arrival. In the language created for astronomy, it translated to Voltron.

***

As soon as Astronomy was over, Keith went as fast as he could to his room. He planned on learning a couple of jinxes to show off in Defence Against the Dark Arts. As soon as he crashed into the room, there was a flash of blue light and Kosmo, his kitten, jumped into his arms. He smiled, “Hey boy, how was your day? I tried to help this annoying kid and he gave my advice to the entire class. Rude much?” the kitten nodded.

He went to sit on his bed when a grey and blue striped cat leapt up and went over to Kosmo. Letting Kosmo go to say hello to the smaller striped kitten, he shifted his attention to the new arrival, “Hey, who are you?” asked Keith, scratching its head but not expecting a response.

Soon after he spoke, Lance slipped into the room and uttered a sharp cry of shock and outrage. “What are you doing to my princess? Ladyblue you come back here this instant.” The kitten emitted a mew that could have easily melted someone’s heart but stayed put. “Did you curse my sweet Blue?” Lance asked, horrified.

“Why would I do that? Besides she just came over here to meet Kosmo, I think.”

“You named your cat Kosmo?” Lance asked, his voice rich with amusement.

“His species is a cosmic cat, they’re really rare but they look like ordinary cats until they show a liking to someone revealing their cosmic blue fur.” He stroked the kitten as Ladyblue padded back over to Lance. He said nothing, grabbed a few books, and went out.

Keith was grateful for the silence. Whispers and covert looks followed him to Shiro’s classroom. He tried not to take notice, it happens to him all the time but it was getting increasingly irritating. Maybe if he didn’t show off people would stop looking at him. He sat near the front and surprise, surprise! Lance was the one who sat next to him again.

Shiro introduced himself and before he started the lesson, someone called out, “why are you a teacher when you could be a super successful Auror or quidditch player?” Shiro smiled, Keith already knew the answer. “Because I simply like teaching. Plus, I’m happy with the record I’ve broken, youngest teacher at Hogwarts, I’m 21. Now, who can name me any helpful jinxes or other spells when it comes to a fight, defence?” Katie’s hand shot up.

“Ms. Holt, Matt’s your brother correct?”

“Yes sir, some helpful defensive spells are protego and expelliarmus.”

“Very good Katie, you certainly take after your brother. 10 points to Ravenclaw.” Keith knew Shiro liked first names basis and he was a legend; it must have been pretty cool for Takashi Shirogane to call you by your first name. “I think the best way to learn is practice. Usually first years aren’t supposed to use actual magic in this class, but I’ve been teaching for the past 2 years and I get results. Katie, have you practiced either of the spells you mentioned?”

“No sir.”

“Does anyone feel confident enough to try?” Keith raised his hand and Shiro gave him a, “showing off is only going to get you more attention,” look. He stood and faced in front of Shiro, everyone in the classroom looked a little scared, aside from Lance for some reason who just looked bored. “Alright, you’re going to use protego to repel my attacks, got it?”

Keith nodded. Shiro flicked his wrist and said a spell, Keith pointed his arm directly forward and shouted “protego.” It fully repelled Shiro’s attack. He smiled, “very good Keith. 10 points to Gryffindor.” Shiro did 3 more minor attacks and Keith repelled all of them. He saw that a few people began to silently mirror his movements.

“Now use expelliarmus,” said Shiro and made to attack again. “Expelliarmus!” said Keith and Shiro’s wand flew to his hand. “Excellent! Another 10 points to Gryffindor. Again, 2 more times.”

Keith took Shiro’s wand on the second attack but when he moved his wand for the 3rd, he turned into a tall man with a scared face and purple skin. There was a burst of green light and the blurry man in front of him dropped to the ground. The man fired a spell into the air. Keith’s eyes went wide with fear, he grabbed the motionless man’s wand and screamed in his head, “stupefy!”

The room came back into focus as a red light shot from Keith’s wand and hit Shiro squarely in the chest. He fully stopped moving. The entire class gasped in shock. Keith quickly uttered the reverse to the spell and Shiro bent down panting.

“I’m really sorry Sh-professor,” he said quickly. “No harm done Keith, but that was powerful. Would anyone else like to try the jinxes?” Lance put his hand up as Keith walked grimly back to his seat. “Mr. McClain, wonderful. If you are as good as your sister, we’re in for a treat.” Lance walked over and performed the jinxes. He wasn’t as good as Keith, but he could tell he was mirroring his movements.

As they practiced, Keith wondered how he was able to do that. He could only do a few spells nonverbal and had never attempted stupefy. If performed correctly it could mean the difference between victory and failure in a duel.

Lance had managed to get 20 points for Gryffindor; he was good at both expelliarmus and protego. Katie had won 10 points for Ravenclaw; she was good at protego but not expelliarmus. Hunk, Keith found out that was his given name, had won 10 points for Hufflepuff on the account of being good at expelliarmus but not protego. The rest of the class barely managed either one.

As class ended, Keith tried to walk out swiftly before Shiro could call him to stay behind. But he wasn’t fast enough. When he turned back, he saw Lance stick his tongue out at him. It was such an immature gesture he almost laughed, but what Shiro wanted to talk about was very serious.

“Keith, I heard Slav saying that a first year, Mr. Kogane, managed to perfectly execute nonverbal levitation. I’ve told you how much he annoys me, but I think this is true. Care to explain?” “So what? I can do a basic, first year spell without speaking. Big whoop, why are you so annoyed and why does everyone look more scared when they see me?”

“Because only 3 wizards in history have ever been known to perfectly execute a nonverbal spell before their 6th year! Yet you managed to do it on your first day of school! I told you to keep a low profile,” said Shiro angrily.

“Sorry,” Keith muttered, looking down.

“Not only that, I thought there was a chance Slav was overreacting. Then you use stupefy on me, in my class? And it was also nonverbal! What the honest To God Fuck!” Keith practically jumped; he had never heard Shiro swear before.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to show off in charms, but I honestly didn’t mean to use stupefy on you. I don’t know how it was that powerful.” “Then why did you do it?” asked Shiro exasperated.

“When you were about to use the 3rd spell, the way you moved, you turned into Zarkon.” Shiro blanched, “what?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know what happened or how, one second I’m about to use expelliarmus, the next a scared purple man makes a flash of green light. It killed the person standing in front of me. He fired a spell into the air. I was so scared I picked up the wand on the ground and fired. Stupefy was the first spell that came to mind, but I didn’t want to say it in case he knew a counter. But right before I fired the spell, you turned back into you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Keith felt genuinely upset, he hadn’t felt that way since he had to leave his favourite home.

“Oh God Keith, I’m so sorry for snapping at you.” He touched his shoulder in a comforting sort of way. Keith wasn’t good with contact, so this was his way of being affectionate. “It’s fine, at least now I know what happened.”

“What do you mean?” “When you first told me how my parents died, I tried hard to remember it, but I couldn’t. I think somehow you triggered the memory. Zarkon must have already killed my mother, he used the killing curse and my father shielded me from it. After he did, Zarkon fired the dark mark. I was scared, so I grabbed my father’s wand. I don’t know what happened next but the next thing I know, he’s on the floor dead and people were coming up the stairs. That’s where the memory ends.”

Shiro was silent for a bit, then he said, “It’s a good thing you know what happened. And you probably want to know who was able to use nonverbal spells early.” Keith nodded. “Dumbledore in his 5th year, Honerva Haggar in her 4th and… Lord Zarkon Galra in his 3rd.” Keith was shocked, he hadn’t known that. “Now do you understand? I don’t know what the students think but you shouldn’t be using such powerful magic. One wrong move wouldn’t just be expulsion, it could be Azkaban.”

“Wait what?”

“Keith, the power you possess is unknown and unmatched, it’s unheard of to be able to manifest magic as an infant let along take the life of one of the most powerful wizards of all time. People have reason to fear you, don’t give it to them, ok. I don’t want to lose you, you’re like the brother I never had. And I really, really, really don’t want you to get hurt just because you’re a kid. Got it?”

“Yeah. No more nonverbal spells, no more acting up and no more showing off. I can still practice spells, though right? As long as it doesn’t get me into trouble?”

“Yeah, I mean you should have better things to do but if you want to spend your time studying and practicing, by all means.”

Lunch was really good. Adam was an amazing cook, Shiro wasn’t at all, but the Hogwarts cooking staff were incredible. He ignored the whispers and the looks and hoped that it would blow over eventually.

Professor Olkari was really nice and didn’t fear Keith at all. She was actually really nice and told the class to call her by her first name, Ryner.

He tried to keep a low profile, and it worked for the rest of the day and the 4 months that followed. Eventually, people stopped staring but still looked scared at any sudden movements, especially with a wand in his hand.

He hung out with Shiro every 2 days because he was his only friend. He rose to the top of every class, Lance following a close lead. He eventually forgot Lance’s first name and only remembered him as McClain. He forgot everyone besides Katie, because she was the only person in their year smarter than him. She was the only student who he respected on an intellectual level.

McClain was the only other person who could match Keith’s power, but only on occasion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, this is really exciting so thanks for sticking around. I hope I'm doing both franchises justice. Once again I would love some constructive criticism.


	3. Holiday not totally alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a deeper look at Keith. He spends christmas at the castle and makes an unexpected acquaintance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had writers block almost the whole time writing, I can't believe how long it turned out. Once again, thank you Niamh.

Keith was eating lunch in Shiro’s office. He liked it a lot better than the great hall, which was always full of people. It was the day before they broke up for Christmas holidays. Keith never understood why they called it that, it was just winter break, no need to name it after a holiday he didn’t know about.

“Come on, why not? We didn’t really do much last year, I only got you Kosmo. Why do you want to stay?” Shiro pleaded. It had been like this all week; Shiro wanted him to come back to London but Keith wanted to stay and explore the castle more. People all wanted to go home which meant an almost empty Hogwarts, to Keith it sounded like a dream come true.

“Because I want to explore the castle. You know I don’t do people and Hogwarts is the most magnificent castle ever. I mean you and Adam’s place is nice but we’re talking a palace built by the 4 most famous wizards of all time. And now is the perfect opportunity to find all its secrets and hiding places because all of the annoying people who normally take up residence are away.”

“Fine, you make a very valid and strong point. But maybe you’ll find a surprise on your bed at Christmas,” Shiro said in a confusing tone.

“What kind of surprise?” “You know, a surprise,” he said a little louder as if Keith was failing to understand some kind of inside joke. Keith raised his eyebrow to look confused.

“A present, you might get a present or two on Christmas.” Now Keith was really confused.

“Why would I get a present?” Shiro was shocked. “Do you really think that low of me? I’m trying to make up for last year. Adam and I were super busy, and I feel bad cause we didn’t get you anything besides Kosmo. On top of that you didn’t tell me your birthday either which means I could have missed it again.”

“What are you talking about? Is this a game? Why would you get me a present on Christmas or my birthday, which is the 23rd of October by the way.” Shiro gaped at him. He finally understood, Keith didn’t know what Christmas was or that people celebrate you on the day you were born.

“Are you telling me, you’ve never celebrated Christmas before? Or your birthday?”

“In foster care we were told Christmas was a religious muggle celebration which entailed praising a ‘messiah’ from 2000 years ago. And why would I celebrate the day I was born, and why would anyone else? Is this a thing?”

Shiro sighed, he never felt more glad about getting Keith out of that hell hole they called child ‘care’. After a few silent moments Shiro shouted, “come on we’re going to celebrate your first term at Magic school!” he stood up from his desk and went into his cupboard. Keith rolled his eyes, Shiro was never going to let go of what Keith said when he took him out of the home: “You’re a teacher at magic school? And you want me to go to magic school cause I’m a wizard?” “Yes, and it’s not called ‘magic school’ it’s called Hogwarts.” “Whatever magic man.”

Keith smiled at the memory; he really wasn’t that eloquent a year ago considering he had always been intelligent. Shiro came back out of the closet holding two brooms. One was slightly bigger and all black while the other had orange and white streaks. Shiro handed him the orange and white one. Ever since his flying lesson with Madam Hooch, Keith had been talking about flying non-stop.

“Whose are these?” asked Keith, now holding the slightly smaller broom. “This is my firebolt,” the black wood had the name firebolt carved into it, and underneath it in elegant silver cursive was the word Black, “I call it Black, and that is Adam’s nimbus. He won’t mind if you use it. Now come on, classes have ended for the day and I’m a professor, I can’t get in trouble.” Shiro said cheekily.

“Yeah but you’re at least 30 years younger than everyone else and I mean it’s been 3 years since your 7th year here.” Shiro ignored the jibe and lead him outside. “Follow me and we won’t get into too much trouble.” “You’re going to get in trouble with Adam.” Shiro laughed and kicked off from the ground, Keith following closely behind, gripping the elegant yet modest wood of Adam’s broom.

It responded instantly to the slightest touch, bringing him to a halt in front of Shiro. Keith could appreciate the fine workmanship gone into the noble broom. He ran his hands along the handle, running his fingers over the gold embossed writing that so clearly read firebolt before looking up at Shiro. Shiro smiled a small smile, happy his friend was finally enjoying himself, and he got an idea. He span a full one eighty before speeding off, his cry hung behind him in the wind “Catch me if you can!”

“OH it’s on Shiro!” His grin tore at his face as he shot off after the older man.

***

Lance, Hunk and Pidge were in the Gryffindor common room playing wizards chess. They had decided that it would become their main hang out spot, Lance and Hunk weren’t incredible at riddles and Pidge said there was no way she was going all the way to the basement then all the way back up to Ravenclaw tower. Lance was fine with this arrangement, even though he liked the Ravenclaw common room better because it was blue.

A big gust of wind blew past the window, Pidge looked over and Lance used the opportunity to move his bishop even though it wasn’t his turn, so that he would get a double go. “I saw that! It’s my turn and I take your other bishop, check.” Hunk rolled his eyes.

“Mierda,” muttered Lance.

“We could be winning if you didn’t insist on che-“ a shout came from outside cutting off Hunk’s complaints. “Ok I definitely heard that, what is going on?” said Pidge walking over to the window. Hunk and Lance closely followed to get a glimpse of the commotion outside. Something flew past their window again. It was a figure on a broom screaming, “whoooo!” as loud as they could.

Upon closer inspection it was clear to be professor Shirogane. Then something else flew past their window flying directly behind then passing in front of their teacher. “Ha! I thought you were supposed to be a legend. Watch me show you what speed is!” shouted the flyer. Lance let out a small squeak of surprise and outrage; it was Keith!

The teacher began to perform very complex, high level patterns, all of which Keith then executed, and better at that. He passed Shiro and began to do a number of incredible tricks, then going into a nosedive. The professor followed him. He pulled out of the dive and Keith pulled up just before he hit the ground. Shirogane began to laugh as Keith executed a perfect barrel roll as he flew. He hovered over the teacher’s head upside down and then began to circle him slower.

“Are you sure this is your first time on a broom?” asked Shirogane, still laughing. “Second actually. This is awesome! How come I didn’t do this sooner?”

Lance scoffed; sure, it was his first time on a broom. It had taken years for him to be able to perfect aerial barrel rolls to pick up speed, and he was very close to perfecting a nosedive. The skill required for all of those patterns and aerial forms was immense. Curse Keith Kogane and his stupid expertise and natural talent.

“That’s really cool. Wish I could have skills on a broom but being too far away from the ground makes me feel sick.” Lance rolled his eyes; it wasn’t that cool! Fine maybe it was, it just meant that Lance would have to become an even better flyer, or the rivalry would mean nothing.

Suddenly there was a shout from the ground. The flyers couldn’t seem to hear and try as they might, the 3 onlookers couldn’t tell who was shouting. Then the person used a voice amplifier.

“Professor Shirogane and Mr. Kogane come down here this instant or so help me!” shouted the unmistakable voice of McGonagall. “Oh god, you are never going to let me hear the end of this are you?” Shirogane asked Keith. He shook his head then made a very annoyingly skilled descent.

***

Keith was a little annoyed that they were in trouble with McGonagall, but flying was the most fun he’d ever had. It was hard to be incredibly irritated after his literal high. He wondered if there was any way he could do more flying, maybe he could do more silent laps around the castle after midnight. They landed and walked over to the transfiguration teacher glumly.

“Professor I expect better of you. You have only been teaching for two years and I do believe student’s grades have risen. Please do not break rules when you aren’t even a student, anymore.” “There are rules for flying around the castle when there aren’t any lessons?” Keith asked moronically.

“Speak when you are spoken to Kogane, or you will lose the proposition I have for you.” Keith was suddenly intrigued. “What are you talking about Minerva?” asked Shiro, he wasn’t expecting them to get punishments but rewards? That wasn’t like McGonagall.

“I haven’t seen a student who knew how to use a broom that well in, well, I haven’t.” Keith gaped at her, “what? I thought I was in trouble.”

“Normally Mr. Kogane you would be, but you were with a professor. The talent I have just witnessed, how many times have you flown?” McGonagall’s tone had lightened immensely, it made Keith nervous, he clutched his broom tightly. “The first time was the lesson with Madam Hooch and the second was now,” he said quietly now devoid of his usual fire and quick remarks.

“I’d say he was more talented than you Takashi,” said McGonagall. Shiro cocked his head to one side and gave her an unimpressed look. “And, your mother.” Keith looked up sharply, “my mother?” “Yes, she was captain of the Slytherin team from her 4th year. Though sadly not many of us remember her fondly.”

Her tone was surprisingly bitter; it made Keith a little sad. He knew nothing of his family, was there more to it than the simple killing? Were they murderers?

“Why?” asked Keith exasperated, “who was she? Who was my father? Were they bad people? Were they galra?” McGonagall flinched at the last question.

“I am not the one who should be answering those questions. You certainly have inherited talent from her nonetheless, though most of it I would say is your own. How would you like a position on the Gryffindor quidditch team?” Keith lost his footing and stumbled into Shiro even though they weren’t moving.

“What?”

“You have immense flying talent. Why not put it to good use? You could most likely fly circles around the current team. I believe you could do well as a seeker. What do you say?” She looked like she meant it; but being on his house’s team would mean that he would be stared at more than usual and if Keith hated anything, he hated many things, it was to have ridiculous amounts of people looking at you. Especially when he just didn’t like people.

“Sorry no,” he said quietly. McGonagall and Shiro’s faces fell. “What do you mean no? It’s unheard of for a first year to make the team,” said McGonagall.

“Yeah and bad things will happen if I mess up. Like you said I’m a first year, the teams are supposed to be comprised of the best of the best. Sorry, it just doesn’t sound like my thing. I’m flattered you thought of me though.” McGonagall nodded curtly and walked back into the building.

“It’s a shame,” said Shiro wistfully. “What is?”

“That you turned her down. I made the Slytherin team when I was in my third year. It was two years later I became captain and people said I could play professionally. Do you even know the half of the stunts you just pulled off?”

“They have names?” asked Keith incredulously. “Yes, they do. I could stand here all day saying how you would make an incredible seeker. And none of those things you said were true by the way.”

“What? Of course they were.”

“When have you ever cared what people think of you?” Keith shrugged. “And you couldn’t care less whether which side won. You are comprised of the best. I know the real reason and you shouldn’t let you hold you back.” Keith sighed, “yeah I know, come on you’ll be going back to London tomorrow. Let’s go practice jinxes, I think I’m getting better.”

Shiro laughed as they walked to go back to his office. “I never understood why you like practicing when there are better things to do.”

* * *

At about 10 in the evening, Keith made his way back to his room. He got distracted in the joy of learning new jinxes and spells, so they lost track of time and missed dinner. Keith knew that Shiro didn’t like meals anyway because Slav annoyed the crap out of him with his theories.

Funnily enough, there were barely any people in the common room. But annoyingly, the rest of the first years were still awake. Irritating McClain, silent one, the one who always wore a funny hat and the asshat. Keith thought his name started with a J or a G, he sniggered thinking about stupid initials. He crept through the room and to his bed.

“Hey, where you been?”

Damn it!

“What the hell was that stunt about and why were you acting so close to Shirogane?” asked the boy G or J. “Don’t know who you are and don’t care. Not in the mood for a stupid argument over a teacher.”

“Oh, that’s rich, cause everyone knows who you are but you don’t give a crap about anyone else.”

“Mmhm, that’s about right,” he said eying the boy dangerously. He didn’t back down; he wasn’t scared enough yet. “Cause you’re so special. You can just break the rules with a teacher and not expect to get in trouble?”

“I really don’t know and don’t care whatever the hell you’re talking about. Nameless, can you just shut up so I can get some shut eye,” he asked brightly. There was an ooooh from across the room; Keith suspected it came from McClain.

“Right that’s it Kogane!” shouted G/J, walking over and squaring up as if he wanted a physical fight. Keith really wasn’t in the mood though. He took out his wand and pointed it at G/J. The 3 other boys flinched, but the boy was really close now.

“Confundo,” he yelled in his head and the boy stopped moving. The silent one looked at him horrified when Keith smiled knowing his jinx worked. “I am a nameless idiot; I’m going to stop bothering Keith and everyone else around me by sleeping.” The boy repeated his words exactly and got into bed silently. The other boys gaped at him.

“What?” he asked innocently. They didn’t speak and he rolled his eyes. “I used the confundus charm and made him act like an idiot. Though I’m kind of wondering what his name was.”

“James Griffin,” said the silent one, “I’m Ryan Kinkade, this is Lance McClain and Rax Balmera.” His voice was higher than Keith expected, given his size.

“Yeah I’m going to forget all that tomorrow.” He faceplanted onto his bed with gusto and drew the curtains. “God he’s such a prick,” he heard Lance mutter.

True to his word, he forgot everyone’s names the next day. G/J was giving him the evil eye when he came into the common room. He took out his wand and pointed at the boy. There was a collective gasp, and he was pretty sure he heard a few shrieks, one of which was from G/J himself. At least it was effective as the boy recoiled in fear.

Keith couldn’t say he was proud of being able to instil fear into the hearts of his classmates by simply entering a room or moving his arm, he just liked it better when he did. He wouldn’t say he fell into the cliché of rather being feared than liked, it just was that way and it meant that barely anybody bothered him.

There was breakfast before the students going home would catch the train. Shiro tried to give him a hug before he left but Keith pushed him off, saying it would look weird (really though, he was just embarrassed, something else he would never admit).

“Make sure to tell Adam to send me a list of all the new constellations he’s found and their meanings.”

“I’ve never understood the fascination. I thought teaching the younger generation how to fend off the bad guys was better.”

“Shiro we’re the same generation, you’re only 9 years older and I bet I could beat you in a duel.” Shiro laughed, “maybe, and maybe you’ll find some presents at the end of your bed on the 25th.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Just go home to your boyfriend, I thought when we first met you two couldn’t go a day without kissing, I’m kind of impressed you’ve gone months.” Shiro punched him playfully on the shoulder. “I’m going to take offence to that and as punishment I will tell you exactly what I’m going to do when I get home.” His eyes glinted dangerously, and Keith’s widened.

“Ok no, bye now,” he said pushing Shiro out the door.

He watched as Shiro made it to the colossal gate, which separated Hogwarts from prying eyes. He turned and waved to Keith then apparated, disappearing in a swirl of fabric, looking quite like he was being flushed town the toilet.

* * *

It was the 23rd and Keith was marvelling at all the new decorations. Halloween was incredible, he hadn’t previously known about the morbid celebration and he liked all the black with the pumpkins, it seemed quite his scene. But it really couldn’t compare to all the wreaths, trees, tinsel and baubles that lined everything when Christmas came around.

He saw Slav dusting the corners of the castle with unmelting snow that was sprouting from the tip of his wand, and McGonagall helping Coran to lift a huge tree, using different charms for efficiency. McGonagall happened to be one of his favourite teachers, this was because she was straight to the point and taught transfiguration, one of his favourite subjects. Coran was also nice and was one of the few people he ever met who wasn’t scared of him and his powers, so he was excited for care of magical creatures in his second year.

“Would you like some help professors?” asked Keith walking over. “Well it would help if we could get it higher off the floor. Some help would be welcomed greatly,” said Coran as he desperately tried to get the tree higher. Keith visualised the spell he needed, pointed his wand at the tree and it rose gently off of the floor. They proceeded to make their way to the great hall. Coran ran off to get another tree while McGonagall stayed to put baubles on.

“So, it’s true,” said McGonagall almost absentmindedly. “What?”

“You are able to perform nonverbal spells. How did you learn?” That one came as a surprise, no one had actually asked him that before. “Well we’re allowed to use magic on the train, and I had read about them the night before, not the part about it being a sixth year spell and people not being able to do them before that. I just practiced and I found I could do them. But I forgot I promised Shiro I wouldn’t do them anymore so as to not draw attention to myself.”

“Interesting, how long have you known professor Shirogane?”

“He took me out of foster care about a year and a half ago. He’s like a brother to me. Honestly I’m not sure why no one has come knocking saying that he’s not my legal guardian.”

“How many nonverbal spells are you able to perform?” she asked. The tree was looking considerably prettier. “Quite a few. My first was wingardium leviosa and I’m able to do all first through third year spells. Though the confundus and stupefy are considered difficult but I could do them.” She looked at him not with fear but impressed, rare that anyone looked at him that way, even Shiro and he found himself swelling with pride, an emotion that he rarely felt.

“That is certainly impressive. I don’t think there has been a wizard as powerful as you. It explains your flying skills.”

“You won’t tell anyone right? Nonverbal spells have become a little second nature but if I keep drawing attention to myself,” he paused. She wondered why he looked so scared; she had never seen him look that way. If anything, it was the way the other students looked at him.

“Shiro said Azkaban is a possibility. There were only 3 people who could do nonverbal spells before 6th year and one was the most powerful and evil witch of all time and Zarkon was another. I didn’t think that I could get locked up because of it,” he said quietly. McGonagall had clearly never seen this side of him; only really Shiro and Adam had ever seen him vulnerable.

She looked at him softly, “You are talented, and you have a lot of power, use it in the right way and no one will come after you,” Keith looked up at McGonagall, she was smiling at him, no one ever smiled at him, besides Shiro obviously.

“Can I ask you something off topic?” “I don’t see why not.”

“Why are you decorating the castle? Why are you making inside look like outside? And why do people keep talking about presents? Is it to do with Christmas?” She was baffled. “Have you never celebrated Christmas before?”

“I didn’t really know it was such a big thing. I was with the worst foster carers at the time, I always got thrown in with the bad ones at this time of the year. I didn’t know what Halloween was until a few months ago. So why are you making inside look like outside?”

“It’s part of the decorations. Christmas was originally a religious muggle holiday but then we caught on and celebrated it without the religious parts. People eat ‘festive’ food together and give each other presents. It’s, a time for family. Christmas at Hogwarts is always one of my favourite times of the year because we can make the students who stay or have nowhere to go feel like part of a family.”

“Sounds… fun, see you at dinner professor.” He strode out of the great hall but before he turned the corner, he heard McGonagall call out, “You are good at transfiguring at first year level, why not try turning a lamp into a table. The spells are in advanced transfiguration but I’m sure you already have the book.” He smiled, now that sounded like fun.

* * *

Keith was enjoying his holiday immensely; he had the castle almost all to himself. He wasn’t the only first year there, but he was the only one in Gryffindor. All together there were 20 students who stayed behind. The dinners would have been nice, but Dumbledore made them all sit at the staff table.

Keith always got stuck between McGonagall and a girl from Ravenclaw with white-ish hair, dark skin and turquoise eyes. For some reason she had pink half moon marks painted under her eyes. On the other side of her was Coran, and next to him was the other first year that got stuck behind. She was a Hufflepuff with light blond hair, fair skin and big, dark, navy eyes. She also had the funny painted markings under her eyes, her’s seemed a similar shade to Coran’s.

On Christmas, he found out their names, the taller darker girl’s name was Allura, people liked to call her princess because her father was minister of magic. The other girl’s name was Romelle and she and Allura were apparently cousins.

Finally, after puzzling over them for a very long time, he tapped Allura on the shoulder and asked her, “Why do you paint those shapes under your eyes?” She looked a little scared at first but then softened, it seemed this was a topic she liked talking about. “I’m an Altea, have you heard of my family? We do have quite a bit of status.”

Keith shook his head, this girl seemed proud not pretentious, but nonetheless quite boastful. “My family has been known throughout centuries as we live for quite a long time. Many people can call themselves altean, but my ancestry is direct. The first Altea’s name was Nicholas Flammel Atlea; he discovered the philosopher’s stone, which contained the elixir of life. Hence, we live for a long time, the markings show our lineage, and anyone who wears them is an Altea.” He was kind of impressed, he wondered what it would be like to have a family that big.

“That’s pretty cool, so you all know each other?” “More or less. Romelle is my cousin and Coran is my uncle. He’s my father’s half-brother and Romelle’s mother is Coran's full sister and my aunt. My family is quite large, I’m sure you can image.” He looked down, “I’d love to be able to imagine that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t offend you, did I? I just like talking for great lengths, some say it’s annoying.”

“To some it might, but not many people talk to me and I don’t really know much about families.” He wondered if this was something people talk about often. He was also surprised that he hadn’t managed to scare Allura. She seemed to be able to hear his thoughts as she said, “when you first came to school, I was a little frightened, but then I realised that was irrational. I personally think that people should say thank you for ridding us of the dark lord, but people are more prone to fear than rationality.”

“I’m not great with people, I think it’s better this way.”

“To each their own, though if you’d want, we could be friends.” “Aren’t you supposed to be one of the most popular girls in school?” he said more haughtily than he liked. “I don’t like the term, but I suppose. We could be friends for the holiday then go back to our own.” He shrugged, he liked Allura enough, but she seemed like she would only want to be friends for a little while.

* * *

Before he knew it, it was Christmas morning. It was just another day for him, but then he saw a few nicely and poorly wrapped presents. So Shiro had sent him some things, that was nice. Wait, did this mean Shiro was his family? McGonagall said that families give each other presents, so are Shiro and Adam his brothers? He hoped it wasn’t wishful thinking and scrambled to open the presents.

There were some boxes of sweets, (including Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans, some enchanted toffee, a packet of Fizzing Whizzbies, pepper imps and a sugar quill) and a few new books. Some were fiction, like tales of Beedle the Bard (Shiro claimed they were traditional wizarding stories) and others were advanced spell books, like the standard book of spells grade 2, 3 and 4. It made him smile.

Then there was one more, it was quite big and felt like fabric. He reached for the card and it read:

_Dear Mr. Kogane, I believe this is yours. Your father had learnt it to me 11 years ago. It is passed down through your family, I have no doubt you will make good use of it._

The note wasn’t signed, and he hadn’t seen the handwriting before. He tore open the paper roughly and inside was some kind of cloak. He drew it around him to see what it felt like, but it didn’t give him any warmth. “If a cloak isn’t warm then what is the meaning of it?” Keith asked himself. He didn’t know much about clothes but wanted to see if the cloak was in his questionable style.

When he got to the mirror, he was shocked, he was just a floating head! He pulled it over his head and he fully disappeared. {Whoa, cool.} He thought. It was some kind of invisibility cloak.

Later, after Christmas lunch and ‘hanging out’ with Allura, he sent a letter to Shiro telling him all about the invisibility cloak, raving about the other presents he was sent too. He was really excited about it, to the point of being ecstatic, and ran all over the castle invisible. Perhaps he could use it to avoid people too, which sounded good, no more stares or muttering following him down the corridor.

* * *

Over the next few weeks he spent a lot of time with Allura. She was actually pretty smart and surprisingly interesting. Keith figured he had already found all of the castle’s secrets, so he didn’t really have anything better to do. Many people probably would have been ecstatic if ‘the’ Allura Altea wanted to be friends.

He knew she was pretty and had admirable qualities, but he wasn’t attracted to her. He thought that was probably good because she was his first acquaintance. She also unknowingly helped him figure something out about himself.

A few days before everyone came back to school, he asked her, “so why did you want to be friends with me? I am the scary child who’s too powerful for his own good.” She sighed. “Well I wanted to stay because I barely get to spend time with my uncle and cousin, but they seemed to want to spend time without me. None of my friends wanted to stay and I was feeling a little lonely. Then you started a conversation and, to be completely honest, I was a little scared. But you seemed nice and I barely ever get to practice defensive spells. I know you won’t want to be friends once the term stars, but this is nice while it lasts.”

He hadn’t expected her to be honest, it was actually kind of pleasing. True to their words, he didn’t see her once the term started. Having an acquaintance to practice spells with had been nice, but he doubted that they would remember each other’s names after a few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do love constructive criticism and would fully appreciate it if you have any.


	4. Biscuits and Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get deeper every chapter. It's actually pretty easy to write in the mindframe of 11 and 12-year-olds. If they seem out of character it's because they are a lot younger and less mature, which is hard to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot. My badass queens finally come in and there's insight about the plot. And more Keith exposed vulnerability which is fun

Those few months had actually been quite enjoyable. Keith would be lying if he said he didn’t miss spell practice with Allura but after a while, he forgot it had even happened. If he saw her in the corridor, he would have thought, “oh it’s her, I know her somehow. I wonder why.” He assumed it must have been the same for her. Though, people were staying away more than usual, so maybe that was her doing.

He now knew a lot of places to hide and read or practice his spells and potions. McGonagall had always left a secret store cupboard of inanimate junk open. He could use this to practice transfiguration and other jinxes without people gazing at him in surprise, fear or intrigue, shying away from him or generally giving him ugly looks. The invisibility cloak was extremely useful, he could use it to hide, get to his classes inconspicuously or sneak out to practice new hexes from the spellbooks Shiro got him in the middle of the night. It probably would have looked strange to someone else if they spotted him creeping around, holding a bunch of junk, including (it was one time!!!) a bicycle wheel.

His lunch sessions and designated ‘hang-out’ times with Shiro were always the highlight of his day. Once, Shiro had insisted on sneaking down to the kitchens as if he was a 3rd year. He learnt a lot about houselves until 3 other students interrupted them.

“Oh man, I need creampuffs stat!” said one and a group of elves ran over with a plate. Shiro blanched and Keith was a little irritated that they hadn’t accounted for other students showing up. Surprisingly, it was Katie, the tall one and the McClain kid {what’s his name again?}. He saw them everywhere, by all rights he should be able to remember all their names, but Katie was pretty much the only person in school he had bothered to remember.

“Professor Shirogane? What are you doing here?” asked McClain as if the kitchens were a secret only he and his friends knew. Shiro seemed to remember he was a professor, and that he was the one with the authority around here, and stood taller. “I could ask you the same Mr. McClain, Ms. Holt, Mr. Garett.” The students looked down; everyone knew Shiro only used your last name when you were in trouble.

“How did you know how to get in?” he asked. “A prefect told me sir, we can go,” said Garrett gesturing to the door. “It’s fine, Keith and I were just leaving.” He walked out with Keith close on his heals.

Before he closed the door, he heard, “I mean come on, he’s even close with Shirogane! That guy is a legend. Is there anything…” The door shut before he heard the rest of it. He had often accidentally eavesdropped on a lot of McClain’s conversations and a lot of them were about how much he Keith annoyed him, often dissolving in to trash talking him. What had he done to make the boy so angry with him? He had acted like a prick, he’ll admit that much but seriously, no one ever talked about him to that extent that frequently.

Sure there was the “hey he’s so scary and powerful” talk, and the “ Wow, he hates everyone, I hate him, is he even human? Does he have any friends? Where does he go, I’ve only ever seen him in class, he doesn’t even go to lunch that often?” All he could think was that McClain must really hate him. It was fine, enemies were easier to keep than friends and Shiro was all he needed.

* * *

He didn’t go home with Shiro for the Easter holidays either. He explored the castle and practiced multiple advanced spells on the suits of armour, it was incredibly enjoyable.

He found that Shiro had left Adam’s broom behind with a little note attached, it read: “Hey, seeing as you can fly so well Adam said you could use his broom to practice, or even just for fun, don’t use it if you don’t want to. And don’t forget! Patience yields focus.”

It seemed that no one minded if he used the quidditch pitch for flying. On occasion he would fly through the forbidden forest for a thrill, which was obviously very dangerous and against the school rules. If anything that made Keith more determined to do it as often as he could. Sometimes, if he had been flying for a good few hours, he would notice a couple of students or even a teacher watching. If that happened, he would simply, fly out of sight, throw his invisibility cloak on and zoom up to his room.

The children who stayed for the holidays got big chocolate eggs from their families on Easter, Keith included. Shiro had gotten him a massive dark chocolate egg decorated with brooms that flew around the room when removed from the egg.

It came with a note from Shiro and Adam, it read:

_Hey Keith, hope you are having a great eater! Adam mad this egg for you, I didn’t do it all! Oh hush, you did! Now we know you love flying so hopefully you’ll love this egg, see you when term starts back up! The egg is filled with caramel, heard it was your favourite after toffee (I didn’t have the ingredients for toffee) hope you enjoy ☺_

How many weird holidays did he not know about? First Halloween, where they celebrate the dead not coming back to life or something. Then bonfire night, where they watch fireworks to celebrate the brutal execution of a group of attempted mass murderers. Then there was Christmas, where people give each other presents and enjoyed spending time with family. And now Easter, where apparently you give chocolate eggs to each other to celebrate new life. {People are really, really weird,} he thought.

* * *

When the new term started, he saw less and less of Shiro as he slowly got swamped having to prepare all the extra stuff for OWLs and NEWTs, pretty much only seeing him in class and just after. His lunch dates with Shiro were now cancelled.

He spent his entire time ignoring people and practicing all kinds of advanced spells. The better he did in class, the more assignments he got set. They kept him busy and he had even more reason to stay away from everyone, not to mention they stopped him going mad and he actually enjoyed them. McGonagall give him some advanced transfiguration spells to work on, Iverson gave him permission to use a classroom so that he could practice brewing advanced potions. Te-Osh said that he could use the enchanted telescopes any time. He was getting busier and busier, better to distract himself from not being able to see Shiro.

He wondered if there was any way to take more than the recommended amount at OWLs. At the rate that he was going, he wanted to do almost all of his current subjects. He wondered if McGonagall had told his other teachers to set him extra work, he did tell her he loved to learn.

His least favourite subject was most likely history of magic because they never learnt about anything interesting. One day, when he walked into the classroom, the usual teacher wasn’t there.

“Good day everyone, my name is professor Ova-Altea and I will be your supply teacher while professor Ozar is away on official business. There are many areas history that are interesting, you all probably have an area that you want to focus on, does anyone have a particular area they would like to learn?” Keith decided that he liked her. Straight to the point and was good with questions. The blond girl with Altean markings put up her hand. The professor pointed to her. “It’s lovely to see you Merla. I was wondering, maybe you could teach us the Altean family history.”

Keith looked closer at the teacher and realised she also had the markings under her eyes. “Well it is an interesting topic; I do not see why not Ms. Altea-Smythe.” Keith remembered almost all Alteas knew each other. “Now, open your, wait, this is a 4th year topic,” she stopped for a moment and thought, deciding to proceed without books “Would you rather learn about the Alteas or the wizard’s part in muggle’s world wars?”

It was unanimous; everyone said they wished to know about the Altea family wizarding history. “Very well, now does anyone know who the altean people are?” Katie put up her hand, Keith also knew the answer. The teacher pointed at her. “The Alteas are a family who have been around for centuries. Some suspect their lineage dates back to the Hogwarts founders.”

“Very good, 10 points to Ravenclaw. Does anyone know how to recognise if someone has Altean lineage?” Seeing as no one else was doing it, Keith put up his hand this time. The teacher pointed at him. “By the painted crescent moons under the eyes. There are many Altean students here and I see you yourself are one. Altea is in your name.”

“Well answered, 10 points to Gryffindor.” She didn’t seem scared when she saw him, maybe she just didn’t recognise him.

“Most people believe the Alteas date back only a few centuries because of the first famous one, Nicholas Flammel Altea. He discovered what is known as the philosopher’s stone, a powerful magical artefact. Does anyone know why the stone is important?” No one seemed to know so Keith put his hand up again.

“The philosophers stone has the power to create the elixir of life. Since Flammel discovered it, he used it and traces can be found in the bloodstream of an Altea. It is why they are so powerful and live a few years longer than regular wizards.”

“Excellent, 20 points to Gryffindor, might I ask your name?” Keith sighed; this is what happens when he does well in class.

“Keith Kogane.”

Her eyes widened a little then she composed herself, she didn’t seem to find his presence offensive. The class went on and Keith learned a lot of new things about Alteas. The ministers of magic had always been Alteas until Lord Zarkon came along and disrupted the line. Alfor Altea learned of his evil and tried to make him step down. When he didn’t comply, Alfor destroyed his isolated hometown Daibazaal. Zarkon stepped down and Alfor swore to protect all wizards and muggles. It was then Zarkon swore his revenge against all Alteas.

Keith found this really interesting, if minister Alfor wanted Zarkon gone, maybe he wasn’t all that afraid of Keith. Maybe he would tell people what he did was a good thing. No, he had 11 years, and everyone would always be terrified of him.

* * *

The next lesson, professor Merla Ova-Altea was still there. “Professor Ozar is still away, but this will be my last lesson with you, what topic do you wish to know about?” The class was silent, so Keith put up his hand. “Can you tell us about Azkaban and its famous inmates?” The teacher looked a little taken aback, and he got a few confused stares.

“I don’t see why not. As always, we’ll start with a question, what is Azkaban?” Katie put her hand up as usual. “Azkaban is the wizards’ prison. It’s an island guarded by dementors and you can’t apparate onto it. All the most famous and unhinged criminals go there for life sentences.”

“Good Ms. Holt, 10 points to Ravenclaw. Azkaban was created when our society was laying the groundwork. It has always instilled fear into the hearts of criminals meaning our world has few, but they are even more dangerous. Though in the past 100 years, there has been a great increase. Azkaban couldn’t be full but if it could it would be. Crime has worsened in the wizarding world ever since the rise of you-know-who. Does anyone know what his followers called themselves?”

No one made any move to raise their hand. It was obvious everyone knew the answer, but they didn’t want to say it out loud. Not even Keith put up his hand.

“Yes.”

Keith looked up; someone was going to speak. “They called themselves the galra. After Lord Zarkon Galra. They have scared faces with purplish skin. It is the mark of someone who has taken the life of another willingly and enjoyably,” said McClain. Wow, Keith didn’t know he had that in him.

“Exactly right. 30 points to Gryffindor. Does anyone know any famous inmates?” Once again, everyone was silent, even McClain.

“Right, this might be a sore subject, but it is important to know. Some of the most notorious galra housed in Azkaban are as follows: Sendak, Trugg, Macidus, Morvok, Prorok, Gnov, Ladnok, the druids and… Haggar.”

The students shuddered at her last words. Keith felt a little bad, he had been compared to Honerva Haggar many times and she was completely and utterly evil.

“They were all you-know-who’s generals and lead executioners. The druids were some of the most powerful wizards of all time. Haggar corrupted their minds and made them Galra. Over the 3 druids, Haggar is the most powerful. She sought them out because they could use magic without a wand, like her and you-know-who. There have been few wizards through time with the ability. Though their leader has been gone, the galra continued without them. It was 7 years ago that Haggar was captured and she finally joined her druids in prison. You all would have been too young to know the galra’s peak in history, so you wouldn’t know the relief felt when Haggar was finally captured. It managed to take the spotlight off the boy who killed.”

That was everyone’s cue to stare at Keith with fear. “I was young when the newspapers announced he-who-must-not-be-named’s murder, by a child no less. People began to fear him like they did the dark lord which was uncalled for.”

They looked at her confused, but also with shock, should they not live in constant fear that Keith was going to someday become the new Zarkon? No one had suggested that before, especially not in public. She kept talking about the history of Azkaban, but Keith had stopped paying attention, why did she say that he shouldn’t be feared? Shiro and Adam were the only ones comfortable around him, and even they had moments of fear.

***

History had got a lot better in the past two lessons. Lance really liked the new teacher, she taught them about real and important things. He thoroughly enjoyed the lesson; though having Haggar mentioned 10 times was a little unnerving to say the least.

When they walked out, Pidge caught up to him and asked, “why did you say that about the galra? And how? Weren’t you scared?” “No one should be afraid to speak their mind, especially if it’s to answer a question. What’s that?” he heard noises and shouting coming from down the corridor. They peered around the corner and saw four 3rd year girls in some kind of fight.

They were all Slytherin and Lance, being the fashion adoring, makeup loving, hair styling person that he is, really liked their hairstyle choices, much more interesting than most student’s boring normal hair. One girl had a high ponytail dyed pink, yellow and blue. One taller more muscular girl had an afro which was dyed blue and purple at the bottom. One girl had a hairstyle which let her long fringe fall into her eyes, she had a funny looking cat on her shoulder. The last girl had dark almost navy hair in a lob cut which she worked well.

“What the hell! I mean really, why are you guys so close?” asked ponytail.

“We’re all close, we’re his best friends, why are you even complaining?” asked lob cut.

“Oh sure, you and Narti act so innocent leaving me and Zethrid out!” cried ponytail.

“Don’t bring Narti into this! You and Zeth always run off! We can all think of what you get up to!” shouted lob cut.

“Hey! None of that. It’s you in the wrong, not us,” said Zethrid.

“Really, you’re the ones making a fuss over a boy when neither of you are into boys!” Narti gasped but for some reason it wasn’t audible.

“You bitch Acxa!” screamed ponytail. Her eyes glinted malevolently as Acxa pulled out her wand. “No need for that,” said ponytail and lunged into her. She quickly pulled something out of the girl’s robes as she screamed, “Ezor no!”

Everyone shrieked and backed away. Ezor pulled out some kind of dagger and leaned on Zethrid to watch the helpless girl. Her skin turned from pale-pinkish to a blueish lilac, her hair turned from almost navy to a bright navy just darker than her skin, her eyes turned slightly yellowish and two sets of small black horns rose out of her head.

A few people screamed.

The girl called Acxa, was galra.

Lance watched as her eyes widened and she took off down the corridor, people parting in fear. The two girls called Zethrid and Ezor looked after her with pride. Lance felt a little disgusted at that, they looked like they were friends. Narti seemed like she was trying to figure out whether to run after her or not.

There was a shout, it was familiar. “Acxa!” called another 3rd year who grabbed the dagger from Ezor and ran after the girl. It was his sister. He always admired her selflessness, but to run and comfort a girl who had just been outed as galra, that was something.

“What do you think that was about?” Lance asked innocently. His friends gaped at him. “What?”

“You’re asking what they were fighting about rather than the fact that a student was galra! She had the skin and the marks! Doesn’t that mean she’s a murderer?” asked Hunk eyes wide with fear. “Hey, just trying to lighten the mood. We don’t know anything about that. It could have been when she was a child and too young to know better, no reason to reprimand someone when they had no control.”

“You mean like Keith?”

“I don’t like him cause he’s an arrogant prick who thinks he’s better than everyone else. If he was a nice guy then sure, but I still don’t hold killing Zarkon against him. Hey Pidge, why you so quiet?” She sighed. “Professor Ova-Altea said that few wizards in history have ever been able to use magic without a wand. It’s how children figure out their abilities but after they get their wands, it disappears. The druids kept that ability and so did H-Haggar. And me.” she said quietly.

“You’re scared because you hold power similar to the druids. That’s understandable. But they’re in Azkaban and no one’s coming after us,” said Lance reassuringly.

“Wait, us?”

“I mean, oh shit,” muttered Lance. Pidge looked up at him curiously, “you can do magic without a wand as well?” He nodded.

“Hey me too! That makes us closer, we’ll all protect each other, right?” asked Hunk. They nodded and walked off down the corridor, Lances arms around their shoulders comforting them and reassuring them as they headed off to the Gryffindor common room.

After the 5th class of the day was their favourite time to hang out. Students didn’t really want to go to their common rooms just yet, so they mostly had the Gryffindor one to themselves, bar the odd student or two writing a letter or doing a piece of homework due the next day. Pidge and Hunk grabbed a table while Lance went upstairs to get his exploding snap.

He rushed into the first year’s dormitory, not expecting anyone to be there, to see Keith on his bed stuffing something into his robe. He looked around frantically and a book flew to his hand. His wand was nowhere to be seen. Lance’s eyes widened as Keith flopped onto hid bed, book covering his face.

Apparently Keith could also do magic without a wand. When he had thought he could finally do something cool but no, Keith had to be good at it as well. Why did he look scared when Lance came in though, was he hiding something? Just before he left the room, Lance asked, “Watchya doin’?”

“Well I was reading in silence but apparently now I’m not.” Lance scoffed; he didn’t think Keith would ever change. But today there was something in his tone, usually it was always fiery or cold and quick, but there was a hint of something he had never heard before, was it fear? Not likely, this was Keith Kogane we were talking about.

* * *

At dinner, Dumbledore made an announcement. The trio of Hunk Pidge and Lance were sitting at the Hufflepuff table and Lance noticed that his sister wasn’t sitting in her usual place at the Gryffindor table. He spun around and saw that she was sitting next to Acxa, the girl from the corridor. She looked like she was attempting to talk to her but was unsuccessful.

The girl didn’t look galra anymore; she looked normal, except for the cool hair. Just as Dumbledore was about to speak, five boys walked over from the Gryffindor table. They too had cool, crazy hairstyles like the Slytherin girls from earlier. Lance recognised 4 of them as players on the quidditch team. They leaned down and spoke to his sister and she shook her head. He was a little surprised, they were 6th years and she was a 3rd year. But they must have known each other well, as she was also on the team.

Finally, after much cajoling she got up and went back to the Gryffindor table. The boys settled next to Acxa. Then Dumbledore pulled Lance from his thoughts as he started to speak.

“Good evening students. It has been brought to my attention that 4 pupils were involved in a fight earlier today.”

Everyone went quieter than they normally would have with such an announcement. Somehow everyone must know, he felt bad for Acxa.

“One made the other reveal what she looked like. The student in question, is galra.”

Every single person in the great hall stared at Acxa. She put her head down, staring at the table in embarrassment. The tallest of the boys sitting next to her put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting sort of way.

“It is vital that you should know, there are many galra students around you.”

There was a collective sort of gasp as everyone looked around them trying to catch out the guilty suspects.

“It is awful to reprimand someone for the way they look. Muggles have demonised each other for their different religions, or for the way that the look, we must not follow in their footsteps, it is a misguided view to have of the world. No one is any better or worse than others purely due to their sexuality, gender, race or religion and you should never think as much. Now, being galra is not what it was previously. 100 or so years ago Zarkon left this school, he had followers even then. He exploited dark magic, twisting his followers to be like him, but that was a century ago. People are no longer galra by choice, it is genetic and all the galra students in this hall were born that way, they do not have a choice over the way they were born, nor do they have the ability to reverse it. It is impossible to change the past and you should not blame someone for what their parents or ancestors have done. None of the galra students in this hall have killed to earn their scars. Do not ever insinuate as such, do not shun them because of their appearance, and anyone doing so will be expelled and put on the next train back to London, until that train arrives they will not be able to take part in lessons and their wand shall be snapped. Do not doubt me and do not be the ones who demonise innocents, or those who look like your enemies. The students involved in this fight have been spoken to. You are all allies; do not make demons of each other. Please take heed to my words, you may go back to your meals.”

He stepped down from the stand and returned to the staff table. Everyone ate in silence for the remainder of the time, soaking in what he said.

***

Keith was shocked, not only was the girl called Acxa truly galra, but there were others like her. He watched as the girl who ran after her from earlier attempted to talk to her. Five boys got up and walked over to them. The girl huffily came back from the Slytherin table and proceeded to get bombarded with questions from her friends.

Dumbledore started speaking but Keith was more interested in what the boys had to say. They spoke to her in hushed voices. Acxa looked surprised and took out the dagger from earlier. Keith became aware, suddenly, of the belt around his hips where he kept a knife that looked almost exactly like hers. To his surprise, the boys also retrieved identical knives, but their hilts glowed.

When Dumbledore had finished speaking, she whispered something to them that seemed to enrage them. They didn’t get up from the table but still stared at her from where they sat, glowering. She stared back at them with, expression mirrored. He wondered what they had talked about that made them so mad. And why did they have glowing knives that looked like his? He thought about his own blade, McClain had almost caught him earlier.

He sighed, there was no way he was going to sleep like this.

* * *

Months passed and the year slowly began to move into summer. The teachers had to start using chilling charms in their classrooms. This made the corridors extremely hot and people did not like to hang around and talk in them.

Most students gravitated to the outdoors, in an attempt to cool off students started swimming in the lake and everyone would get the occasional sighting of the giant squid, who was clearly just happy to have people in the lake with him. He would often fish students who had fallen in or swam out too far back to shore.

Lance, Hunk and Pidge sat outside and played games or talked about classes and current events.

Since it was so hot, and no one wanted to be inside, Keith could have the common room to himself. It was nice because it was more comfortable and much spacier than his room. This allowed him to practice chilling and freezing charms and read to his hearts content.

Exams were nearly over and Shiro had promised him they would spend time together every night. It was only a couple of weeks before the term ended. He was both excited for school to end and not at the same time. He loved the castle, but it was going to be nice to be away from everyone and the whispers and frankly alarming rumours.

(I mean, he was most definitely not Shiro’s secret lover or conspiring to burn down the school with the help of a cult based around worshiping cheese, specifically camembert).

He got up to go to the kitchens for a snack, he enjoyed talking to the houselves. Their history was interesting, and he learnt that they hated compliments, which they had bonded over.

He made his way to the staircase that lead to the dungeons and basement. Then he heard hushed voices. Not wishing to intrude, he stayed by the banisters hoping that their conversation would finish and he could be on his way. By waiting there he inadvertently eavesdropped, which was never his intention, he just has really good hearing, OK? By all rights, this was technically worse.

“We just wanted to say, we’re sorry,” came a voice, Keith around and saw that the girl with a pink ponytail had been the one to speak.

“It’s been months, why now? Narti’s on my side,” said the girl with dark short hair.

“He said that we need to stick together. He didn’t know you were approached by those guys. Were you scared?” said ponytail.

“Why in hell would I be scared? They defected, it’s in our blood. I told them I would keep it and they should be proud of their scars,” said dark short hair

“Here, here. We were born this way. Who cares if we earned our scars? We’re just as much as they are, halfbreeds or not,” the girl with a coloured afro said emphatically.

“Well said Zethrid my dear, thank you for getting Acxa and Narti back. We should always look out for each other. People may fear us for the scars we bare, but we shall all share the weight of the fear, easing the burden. Have you found any more of us?” asked a boy with long white hair and a very, very posh accent. He seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“Acxa says 5 boys were with the other side, they tried to get her to join them, but she stood by us.”

“I applaud you Acxa. So there at least 10 of us. Any word about ‘him’?” asked the posh boy.

“Do you honestly think we could go up to him? He’s a murderer, and too powerful.”

“The alchemist says that he opened up to her. She said that he is powerful but in full control,” said the posh boy.

“Ooh, shouldn’t you be jealous, he’s way better than you. When are you going to tell us about your secret girlfriend?” asked ponytail.

“When the alchemist says so. Plus, I am not jealous in the slightest. He is two years younger and has no one.”

“But he’s like, really cute. I don’t like boys but if I did, I would have like, the biggest crush on him. He’s got blood on his hands, that makes him hotter.” They laughed and walked down to the Slytherin dormitory. Keith was incredibly confused. What had they been talking about? He shrugged and made his way to the kitchen, deciding to ignore the conversation in the corridor, plus the words weren’t for him, he just happened upon them.

He arrived at the portrait of a bowl of fruit that blocked the kitchen, tickled the pear and slipped in. The houselves greeted him with iced green tea and shortbread, which was light and buttery but definitely not mad for dunking. He asked them about their day, and they told him about the different dishes they made.

“And the opera cake is always to students liking, it’s the caffeine and the chocolate.”

“Not many come to us for food and stories. Master Keith is very nice,” said one of the elves sitting across from him. “I like hearing about your days, it’s distracting. Plus, the food is awesome. I mean, I don’t know why some of you aren’t professional chefs.”

“Cooking like that is for wizards. We like our jobs. Master Dumbledore is very kind. He lets work as much as we want,” said the houself proudly as Keith sipped his tea, the lemon adding a whole new dimension. “I guess, Dumbledore is awesome. He’s so accepting and makes everyone feel welcome. Cheers to Dumbledore,” said Keith, raising his glass. The houselves all cheered from their respective positions around the room.

“I wonder Master,” said the elf, “why do you come here so often. It cannot just be for the food. Few students come and go but they never ask us about the different things we do. Surely master has better things to do.” Keith laughed a little. He set down his glass, ice clinking against the sides, and was given a refill.

“Not many people like me, I mean I’m cool with that because I don’t really do people. But you guys are really nice. Non-judgmental and endless stories. It’s better to be here than to pretend to be busy cause you have nothing better to do or hang out with.” The elf looked at him sadly.

“We are better company than wizards? Does master not try and make friends?” asked another elf sitting next to the other.

“I mean I could, but people are just quick to assumptions. It’s just easier to not. And you guys aren’t judgemental at all. Kind of wish more people were like you, but that’s wishful thinking.” Suddenly a group of elves ran past holding a tray of cookies Keith had never seen before.

“Rosquitas, my favourite. Thanks guys,” said a familiar voice. Keith turned to look at the new arrival. He had to be cursed, it was McClain. He paled, what on earth was he doing here, and alone? “How long have you been here?” asked Keith hoping that his embarrassment hadn’t broken through into his voice.

“Since you started talking, I think. The elves didn’t notice me until just now.”

“Where are your friends? I’ve never seen you alone. I was beginning to think you three were joined at the hip.” McClain laughed; it was a nice laugh, it reminded him of summer, warmth on his skin, sitting in the sun. It rang loud and clear across the kitchen and somehow managed to clear Keith of the residual embarrassment and somehow made him smile.

“They’re building something or other, some muggle device? I think Hunk is letting Pidge look at his ‘phone’ or something. Anyways, I was hungry and couldn’t understand half of what they were saying. How often do you come here?” he sounded sincere but there was no way he was talking to McClain, especially when he had overheard what he said about himself. He stood and made his way quickly to the door.

“Bye Dorry, Tadkey, Fortis, Winky, see you guys next time,” he called as he hurried out the door, hoping the renewed embarrassment burning his cheeks wasn’t visible.

***

Lance watched him go, confused. He shrugged and sat in front of the houselves who Keith was talking to. “Hey, so what was Keith talking to you guys about? Does he come here a lot?” the elves looked to each other as if deciding whether to trust him. They decided to talk.

“Master Keith comes here a lot. We give him food and he ask us about how our days have gone. Usually he comes twice or thrice a week. Master is very nice; we were all surprised when he said he likes us better than wizards.”

“Really? Keith’s a prick. He’s never nice to anyone, I’ve tried to be nice to him tones of times but he’s always rude. He’s only once tried to be nice.” “When?” asked a young female house elf.

“He gave me a tip on how to perform a spell better. I used it against him though, it was kind of funny.”

“Why would you do that?” asked the one in the middle slightly horrified, “he tried to be nice. Master Keith has told us time and time again the true nature of you. He says the only nice people are 3 of the professors. All others are mean and dismissive.” Lance was shocked, Keith really thought that?

“What did he say?”

“You heard him master. He says your people are judgmental and it is easier to have no ones than someones. He says we are better for company and it makes him happy we spend time with him, and that makes us happy. He says that even if he tried, he wouldn’t have anyones so he’s mean and everyone else in return. He says it’s the way it is, and no one can change it. It makes us feel sad, so we make sure he has the best biscuits when he comes. People can be mean; give them a biscuit and they may be nice to you or not. Keep giving them the biscuits and someday, they will give you biscuits in return. It never hurts to give the biscuits, it might hurt when they say no to biscuits, but no one can say no to the biscuits forever.”

Lance was dumfounded. “That is some really solid advice. How come more people don’t come to see you?”

“We may not speak properly, but we know a lot. We are bound to wizardkind to serve, that doesn’t mean we are unintelligent. We are small and do not wear clothes, so people see us as inferior. It is nice to know that when you are nice, someone mean can be nice in return. It doesn’t hurt to help, it doesn’t hurt to be nice, but what does hurt is when someone is not nice back. Never be quick to assume mean is their choice, Master Keith has walls, it is expected of one so often shunned and pushed away. But you being nice and him being mean hurts, so you want to hurt back. Master Lance did not think about the consequences of being mean after Master Keith was nice.”

“I guess you’re right. You should do a service where you give people advice, I think a lot of people would appreciate it. Can I take the cookies metaphor? I think it’s really good.” The house elves smiled at him. “We don’t see why not? Are you going to give the biscuits to Master Keith, or will you be mean?” Lance stood.

“I’ll give him the biscuits if he gives some to me.” The house elves shook their heads and crossed their arms. “You shouldn’t think ultimatum, give the biscuits. It may take time for Master to make some for return, but no one gives biscuits forever without receiving them, it’s not how the world works. People with the most and least biscuits are most often alone. If you are willing to try, and make the biscuits, then we do not see why Master Keith will return them eventually. He is a very nice and thoughtful boy. Do not tell him we said so.”

Lance smiled and walked out, maybe he was too quick to judge. If Keith was willing to try, then so was he.

* * *

It hit him like a tonne of bricks the next day. He walked out of defence against the dark arts and felt something telling him to look behind him. He told Hunk and Pidge he would be a minute and waited by the door.

“So, are we on for hanging out?” Keith asked Shirogane. He sighed and began picking up books, “I’m sorry but I promised Adam I would see him. He said he couldn’t wait another few weeks, promise you won’t say anything? Floo powder is useful. Can we do it tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you then,” Keith replied glumly, who was this Adam? He stepped to the side and let Keith walk out; he didn’t even seem to notice Lance standing there. It was a really hot day, so he assumed that Pidge and Hunk would be waiting for him somewhere, but he wanted to see where Keith was going.

He followed him to the library, why was he going in there? It was completely empty; the librarian gave him a funny look when he walked in a took a seat on the study tables. Lance sat near the door, watching. It wasn’t creepy! It was just concern! He was just waiting for the right moment to say something. Keith went to a shelf and tugged out a big book, settled down on the floor almost like a cat and began to read.

It was then and there, Lance realised exactly how Keith felt. He had no friends to hang out with, no one to study with. He spent his time doing extra things because he had nothing better to do. Lance finally saw him, a boy with no family. He felt bad, but, if he wasn’t even going to try, what was the point?

After a few minutes, Lance decided to leave. Watching Keith was a little sad and he wanted to hang out with people who were actually nice to him rather than the stoic boy he saw in front of him. Before he got up, he heard a commotion outside the door.

Looking up he saw 4 girls and a white-haired boy. These were the girls who got into a fight months ago, and a boy he had never really seen before. One of them was the galra. He had to admit, the girls were good-looking, but they couldn’t compare to the boy with the snow-white hair.

(God he was so bi)

After arguing for a hot minute, the girl with the colourful ponytail bounced in and sat down next to Keith. He closed his book and gave her the evil eye. Why? The girl was very pretty and older, Lance was a little jealous.

“Hi,” she said airily, holding out her hand, “I’m Ezor.” Keith looked at her hand disgusted.

“Did I ask?” Lance’s eyes widened. What the hell? He could tell she was taken aback and a little annoyed, but she kept her cool. “You’re the girl who’s friends with the galra. You knew she was born that way and you told the entire school. What kind of friend are you? Is arguing over a person really worth telling the entire school that their parents are galra. That’s awful. And why the hell are you talking to me.”

Lance felt a little dizzy with shock, wow Keith was impressive.

“I was just trying to be nice, that’s between me and Acxa. I wanted to talk to you, I think we have a lot in common.” She put her hand on the table near Keith’s elbow and leaned over. She was flirting with him. “I don’t think we have anything in common, aren’t you afraid?” he asked.

His expression was broody, but instead Keith was the one who appeared to be scared. “Why would I be scared? You’re a cute first year, I’m a cute third. That can be something we share in common.” She edged a little closer and Keith moved in the opposite direction. Lance was right, but why was he scared? Keith didn’t say anything but continued to try and keep a straight face.

“Fine cutie, how about this?” she asked and pulled (rather aggressively) a dagger, like Acxa’s, from inside her robes. Was it a threat? And why was an older girl saying Keith was cute, he wasn’t! Ok that was a lie, but still! Keith looked at it then back at her.

He snatched the dagger from her, and she took it back quickly. Lance must have imagined it, but her skin looked like it matched her hair for a moment. Keith stood. “We don’t share anything in common. I don’t know what you were trying to get out of me, and I don’t want to know. Go back to your girlfriend.”

He grabbed his bag and rushed out, head down, looking annoyed, Lance had no idea what he just saw. The girl stood and shrugged at her friends as Keith ran past them.

“Hey I tried, I don’t think so,” she said.

Lance walked out of the library and heard the boy say, “don’t be so sure. We can wait.” As he turned down the corridor, he felt a tug on his arm and was spun around to face the tall girl with the half-coloured afro, she pinned him to the wall ~ kinky.

“What did you hear?” she asked menacingly. Lance noticed she also wore a small belt; did they all have those weird knives?

“I don’t know, I don’t generally eavesdrop is that’s what you mean.” She let go of him, “don’t cross those you can’t defend yourself against, or your pretty little self could wind up dead,” she sneered. He hurried off trying to forget what he had heard.

* * *

Finally, the end of the year rolled around. Exams were a breeze for the 4 first years who were top of every class. For everyone else, it was significantly harder.

The ride home on the Hogwarts Express was uneventful for everyone. Pidge’s brother Matt went in the same carriage as them. He had been a troublemaker but all in all, a really big nerd, just like Pidge. Apparently, he had been hand-picked for an auror mission. Pidge wanted to spend every minute with him before he left, he didn’t mind and seemed to enjoy Lance and Hunk’s presence.

Keith sat in a carriage alone. He played with Kosmo and practiced a few charms for fun. He was going to miss being able to perform magic whenever he wanted.

There was a knock, it was the galra girl. He glared at her. After the frightful encounter with her pink friend (who he also thought was galra) he wanted nothing to do with them. She opened the door anyway.

“Can I sit?” her tone was inviting but her face was cold.

“No.”

He glared up at her, sitting Kosmo down next to him. “I just wanted to ask you a question. Do you know what this means?” she took out her dagger. He squinted at it.

“No, is it some sort of cult thing? You and your pink friend have them.” She nodded and left without another word. He didn’t feel like being nice to her, she might know something of what he was going through, but he didn’t feel like talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Reminder that these are 11-14 year olds so there isn't anything other than descriptions of looks. Don't be disappointed, please. I promise more feels will come later.


	5. Kerberos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is when the story properly opens. This book was mainly just to lay the groundwork for the books. There's a big storm coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side-note, I headcanon that both Keith and Pidge are autistic so I wanted to portray it. I liked the idea and thought it played out well.

Lance spent half the summer with Hunk’s family. They were awesome. His parents were some kind of muggle wizards, they created what they called tech. Things like ‘phones’ and different types of ‘technology’. Lance didn’t understand half of it but thought television was amazing and wished that wizards had some kind of equivalent (the wizarding radios really aren't as good as tv, especially that show about giant robot lions).

He could see where Hunk got his talent in cooking, his mother and father made some of the best food ever tasted, however he still stood by his mother’s garlic knots (no one makes better garlic knots than mama McClain). He also could see where his talent for chess, exploding snap and tinkering came from. Son and father alike both enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together.

For the other half of summer, Lance brought Hunk to Cuba and showed him what it was like growing up between Latin American muggles and wizards. Lance was actually proud to admit that muggle Cubans and Americans had better music than wizards (and had as a young child insisted on learning all that he could about the dances connected to the songs).

He brought Hunk to family parties where there was dancing and feasts aplenty, and they spent almost every day at the beach or on the boardwalk. Lance thought there was nothing as incredible as spending a day at the stunning Varadero beach, so he insisted it be the first thing they did. They swam in the sea and somehow caused a seaweed war and had to come in that evening smelling of salty sea plants.

They both wished Pidge could have spent the summer with them, but she was spending as much time as she could with her brother and father before they went on some kind of top secret auror mission. All they knew was that the mission was called Kerberos and Pidge constantly sent them owls with little hints that drove Lance crazy and had Hunk trying to stop him from storming back to England to shake it out of the little munchkin.

A few times they got an owl with her brother’s handwriting saying to ignore everything she said about the mission but to remember he was incredible and to miss him in school. Matt Holt was one of a kind, like his sister, and it is almost impossible to describe him (and his aura of chaotic energy).

***

Keith hadn't realised how much he missed the homey smell of freshly baked biscuits and the telescopes in every corner. The globe in the second-floor bathroom with a little heart around Japan that Shiro had drawn when he was feeling homesick, the books pasting the walls of his room, the curtains that Shiro had insisted on buying for him.

The second he walked through the door with Shiro trailing behind carrying two trunks and a cat-carrier, Adam scooped him up into a hug saying how much he missed him and how his bed was ready for him, so to just relax. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around Shiro’s neck, squeezing him hard, Shiro reciprocating. Keith could tell they were holding back from kissing, they tried to not do anything like that in front of him.

They spent the following days with enchanted telescopes charting constellations. Shiro would occasionally try to take an interest then get bored after a few minutes and go back to planning lessons.

Keith missed doing magic whenever he pleased so Shiro and Adam took him to Diagon Alley a few times. He loved running around the shops and marvelled at all the advanced magic that he so wished to try. Shiro would get a feeling in his stomach, a sort of pride, when he saw Keith looking intently at something then whisper the spell used to himself.

They went to big parks when no one was around, often in the middle of the night or early morning, to practice flying. Even though Shiro was the teacher, Adam always more academic. Keith had always thought that he wouldn’t be as good as Shiro on a broom, but he was sorely mistaken. Adam’s talent was the same as Shiro’s, he was almost as fast as him.

Apparently, they had been neck and neck in a friendly rivalry since second year on the quidditch pitch, then at the Yule ball in their 4th year, they became friends. At the two years later they became more than friends. It was at times when they played games, looked at the stars or practiced flying, that Keith truly appreciated his older brothers.

* * *

Three weeks into the summer, Shiro told them he had been approached by the head of the auror office. He wanted Shiro to be on the Kerberos mission. He said that he wasn’t sure, he really didn’t want to become a ministry worker. “So, Mr. Holt, head of the auror office, wants you to go on a top-secret intelligence mission and you’re not sure? That’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity, come on! It’s not like you won’t know your team. Matt will be on it and I bet Mr. Holt is awesome,” said Keith.

Shiro turned to look at Adam for approval. “I don’t know Takashi. A galra infiltration intelligence mission, it sounds horribly dangerous. And your arm could slow you down. I really don’t want you to get hurt. There’s always a chance you won't return in one piece, or even at all! I'm sure there was a reason Holt chose you, but I don't like it. If you know you can get back to us in one piece, I won’t stop you.” He smiled weakly and Shiro smiled back.

“Looks like I’m going to scout the galra and help save the world.” Keith pumped his fist in the air and cheered. “But we’re going to be spending a lot of time with the Holt family.” Keith pouted.

“Good. I haven’t seen Matt in the longest time, I need to congratulate him on making the mission and make sure he’s passed it on.” Keith was intrigued. “You know full well he’s given it to Katie. I don’t think he trusts anyone more than her, for a 12-year-old she’s an impressive witch.” Keith nodded, he respected Katie but wasn’t one for making friends

***

“Nope, didn’t catch me!” shouted Pidge’s brother. “Matt!” she shrieked running out of the room then colliding into her brother who just apparated to outside his room. He apparated again and they appeared in front of their mother.

She gasped and shouted, “we are having guests! Katie, act your intelligence, if not your mental age. Matt, act your age. Sam! Get your children in line, I’m busy!” She stepped over her son and daughter sprawled on the floor. Pidge sighed, stood and pulled her immature brother to his feet.

“That was your fault! If you weren’t showing off, I wouldn’t have tackled you.”

“It’s your fault for rising to the challenge!” they stared at each other, dead in the eyes, then both collapsed in fits of giggles. Then the doorbell rang. They raced into the communal room and smoothed out each other’s hair before sitting on the couch nicely. “I wish you two weren’t so two-faced. Screeching one minute, quiet the next and only if there’s people around,” muttered their father. He pointed his wand to the door and the lock clicked. Shiro and Adam walked in and the Holts didn’t seem to notice the small person behind them. Matt leapt up from his seat and wrapped the men in a hug.

“Adashi! I missed you guys so much. It was weird being taught by you Shiro. And I haven’t seen you in ages Adam, we really must talk more when not going into potentially life-threatening situations.” Matt let go of them and smiled. He was 3 years younger than them both, but it didn’t stop them being friends.

“And now I can stop being so formal, great to see you Matt. Hi Katie.” Pidge waved then finally noticed that there were three new people in her house and not two. “Oh right, um well,” Shiro stepped aside and behind him was Keith, chewing his nails (a nervous habit) “you’ve all probably heard of Keith. Keith, this is Sam, Colleen, Matt and you know Katie.” He waved, staring stubbornly at the floor. Pidge had never seen him so shy. She looked to her family and saw the shock and fear registered on their faces.

“Hi Katie, nice to meet all of you. Shiro talked about you a lot Matt.” This was a new Keith. Pidge always thought he was the sort of ‘I don’t give a damn’ kind of person, this was… surprising to say the least. Matt recovered from his shock and tried to smile; he was nice like that. “Really? Did he mention my good looks, talent and how me and Adam made a great team in quidditch?” he asked, turning on his signature chaotic Matt charm.

Keith loosened a little and said, “yeah, something like that.” The atmosphere was thick with mutual awkwardness. “So, how do you know Shiro? Are you guys related? How come you haven’t come by before?” asked Sam. Shiro answered before Keith could. “I learnt about him through ministry files and took him out of foster care. He’s like my little brother.” They sat down on the sofas and had a pleasant chat, mainly about stuff of no consequence.

They came at least twice a week. Shiro would do paperwork with Pidge's father and occasionally Matt would too. Mainly though, she would hang out with Adam and Matt. She found she liked down to earth Shiro a lot better than professor Shirogane. For one thing he was a lot funnier and more relaxed, clearly, he had two very different lives inside and outside of the classroom.

She had originally thought Adam would be like Shiro, where he was practically the polar opposite. He was calmer and seemed to be able to think about what he said very fast so must have been good with quick comebacks.

But it was Keith who interested her the most. He would plop himself down on her couch, nod to Shiro or Adam, stuff his hand into a small bag and simply read. He seemed shy, as if he wanted to shrink into himself. Most of the time he would look away when she glanced at him and stuff his nose further into whatever reading material he had brought round that day.

His books varied from muggle tales, to advanced magic books and one time a muggle book on conspiracies that he seemed very self-conscious about. It was actually a book that she had been trying to get her mum to buy her for months, she ended up spending that day taking sneaky peeks at it and trying to read over Keith’s shoulder, which sounds a lot easier than it actually was.

It was a lot different than the ‘emo’ persona he flaunted at school (however he did have a muggle band t-shirt for ‘MCR’, later she managed to find out that it was in fact an emo band so maybe he wasn't too different). She wasn’t sure which Keith she liked better, for one they were both very quiet.

Pidge had a hypothesis about his behaviour but wasn’t sure how to test it.

She noticed that the raven-haired boy liked to crawl into the corner of a sofa rather than sit on it straight, but he hated doing it in company so he would often sit very still, like a rabbit in the headlights, trying not to move. One day he crawled into the corner of the sofa, realised halfway what he was doing, and stopped, eyes wide with fear. Then scooted out and tried to read with his face as red as a tomato.

The most common themes for his books, it turned out, was muggle stories. He seemed to enjoy stories of space and aliens; something Pidge herself enjoyed as well. One day she elected to show him her rocket model that flew all by itself and her moving solar system that showed the exact position of all the planets to scale. He started to warm up to her a bit after that. {Well,} Pidge thought, {ain't that something}.

She was still a little afraid, that was expected, but shy Keith was nice to be around.

***

The past month had been extremely different to what Keith was used to. He was never good in social situations, so he sat back and learned to read a room. He watched as Katie and Matt would roughhouse and wondered what it would be like to have a brother like that. Matt loved to apparate all over the house to annoy her and she would leap at him, often tackling him to the ground and ending up apparating with him.

At one point, he was reading when they apparated over the couch. He certainly did not shriek but took his wand out of his sleeve and pointed it at them in defence. They froze and he realised, with his stomach dropping, that he had scared them. He muttered a quick apology before going back to reading.

Sam seemed nice and was somewhat willing to extend an olive branch, though Keith was a little afraid to take it. Colleen was also nice but often busied herself with work and shouting at her kids. Matt was practically indescribable, there were so many ways to, but you had to use all of them, all at once, all in the same sentence.

Katie seemed a lot like him. He caught her observing him from time to time and decided to let her, it was rare he ever met someone who needed to learn social cues instead of being born knowing them. She was the only person in school whom he remembered and respected, so he concluded that he should let her observe him, if that was how she wanted to spend her time. He sometimes wondered what conclusions she jumped to.

Ten days before he would leave, Keith received a surprise. He had been given presents before, only a few and by post. Shiro wasn’t there in the morning and Adam let him sleep in. Keith was reading when Shiro apparated into the living room holding a long parcel. Adam kissed him on the cheek then went up then left to go write his newest finds. “What’s that?” asked Keith pointedly. Shiro smiled at him. “It’s for you.” He held out the long parcel and Keith took it from him intrigued.

“What is it?”

“If you unwrap it, you’ll find out. It’s a present and a promise on your part.” Keith raised his eyebrow and tore apart the brown wrapping paper. He gasped. It was a firebolt. Like Shiro’s except the wood was a deep sierra. The word firebolt was etched into it in gold, it had a flamelike design on it making it look as if the broom was on fire. It was the most beautiful broom he’d ever seen. “I-is this for me?” asked Keith hesitantly.

“Of course, I’ve never seen flying skills like yours. You’ll be the greatest seeker Gryffindor, Hogwarts, hell the world, has ever seen.”

“Shiro,” groaned Keith. He really didn’t want to fly. “Ah, don’t want to hear it. You’d be wasting your talent. Promise me you’ll get on the team, for me?” Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine, but for you.”

“Awesome. What are you going to call her? I think it’s a her.” Keith considered for a moment then smiled.

“Red.” Shiro rolled his eyes, Keith wasn’t great with names, remembering or naming at all. He tapped his wand to the handle which bore the word firebolt. Above it the word red formed in gold letters; Keith smiled widely.

“Kosmo,” he called out. His cosmic kitten appeared in his arms in a flash of blue light. “You like my broom?” The cat smelled it and nodded. “Thanks, Shiro, my first present is the best broom of all time.”

Technically it wasn’t, but it was the first time someone gave him something in person.

A week before they would leave for the Kerberos mission, Shiro brought Keith to the Holt house in hopes they would let him stay the night. “Hi Sam, Colleen. Would it be ok if Keith spent the night here? Only, something really important has come up and I would really appreciate it if you could take care of him. He’s a good kid and very quiet, as you know, he shouldn't be too much of a problem. I wouldn't normally ask you to do this, but this is really important to me. I can pick him up about midday tomorrow. He won't be a problem I swear. This is just a special case,”

“I don’t see why not. We have a guest room,” said Colleen half smiling. “Thanks. So much, I owe you” Shiro said as he left.

“How would you like a game of wizards’ chess?” asked Sam. “Sounds good,” said Keith with a nod. He put his bag down in the spare room then came back to the living room.

“Why do they call it a living room?” asked Keith, sitting across from Sam at the coffee table. “I don’t know, why?” “That’s what I’m asking you. I understand why people call it a sitting room but not a living room. I think it would be better if people called it a communal room.”

They began to play. “So how long have you lived with Shiro?” asked Sam a few minutes into the game. “He took me out of foster care about 2 years ago. Him and Adam are like my brothers, every way besides blood because they’re in love.” They were silent for a bit. “The reason he asked for me to stay over is because he’s going to ‘pop the question’ and I shouldn’t be around.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it took him the whole summer. I was constantly saying to do it and he finally got the confidence to do it.” Keith smiled a little, he was proud of his brother for finally going through with it.

“That’s nice, you know it’s a Hogwarts tradition to fall for your rival or enemy. It’s true for Shiro and Adam, my wife and I, minister Alfor and Melnor and so many others. It’s simply tradition.”

“What’s foster care like? Not many people know about it.” A probing question. “For good reason. It’s oppression in every way. They make sure we don’t use magic; we have to act like muggles and aren't allowed to be attracted to the opposite sex, I even had to stay with countless families who hated me. It’s why it was amazing to be taken out of foster care. Shiro said it was fine to use magic and it was ok to like people of the same gender.” Sam gave him a hard stare, he stared back confused.

“You don’t like girls.”

“No, did you think that I do?” Shiro had said that people give off ‘vibes’. He certainly did not want to give off straight vibes. “I thought you had a thing for my Katie.” Keith heard a sharp intake of breath from behind a door.

“She’s the only person from school who I bothered to remember because she’s the smartest in our year.”

They finished the game after maybe twenty minutes and Keith wasn’t sure if Sam let him win or not. The lunch and dinner atmospheres were a lot more open, he wondered if the Holt siblings had overheard their conversation. They played a wizards’ board game and Keith was sure Matt was cheating. Him and Pidge were arguing throughout. “You’re just annoyed cause I’m winning!” shouted Matt. “You wouldn’t cheat if you thought you could win,” sneered Pidge. Keith sniggered; Pidge half smiled at him.

Shiro had been later than he promised. When Keith heard the familiar knock at about 4ish, he leapt up and thrust open the door. There was Shiro and Adam wearing matching goofy expressions. Keith smiled and wrapped them both in a tight hug. Keith had only hugged them each once, so this was a very big deal.

After they pulled apart, Keith led them inside and grabbed Adam’s left hand excitedly. On his 4th finger was a ring made of a bright silver. It had intricate bronze designs and 3 gleaming stones set in it. The one on the left was a dark emerald, the one on the right was a deep sapphire and the one in the middle was jade. The specific turquoise shade looked as if it had been made by the other two gems.

Keith smiled wider than he ever had in his life. The Holts seemed to have no idea what was going on, except for Sam, who walked over. “Congratulations. When will you start planning?” Adam’s smile widened and he looked so full of pride.

“As soon as you get back fr-“ Adam started before being interrupted by a “Hol’ up, hol’ up, hold up,” coming from Matt pushing his dad out of the way and grabbing Adam’s left hand. He actually squealed. “I was right! I told you! I knew from the moment I saw you guys. Do I get to be the best man? What did I tell you when I predicted this 8 years ago?” an excited chatter rose about how happy the Holts were for Adam and Shiro.

After a couple of hours (Matt had insisted on making them stay for as long as possible, including victory dance and fifty celebratory ‘bro hugs’), they waved their goodbyes and apparated home.

Keith couldn’t stop saying how happy he was for them. “I’ve got one more surprise and I think you’ll like it even more,” said Shiro, slipping into his room. Keith sat on the couch fidgeting with excitement while Adam stared at his ring in awe as the gems glinted. Shiro came back in holding a few important looking papers. He handed them to Keith and let him read. His face drained of colour, not in a bad way, but because he was shocked. “Are you serious?” he asked quietly.

“Deadly. We wanted it to become official. The ministry was completely fine with it. We are your legal guardians, effective immediately,” said Shiro proudly. The colour flushed back into Keith’s face.

“I think I might cry.” he whispered, leaping into another group hug, it lasted for a few minutes this time. Keith in the middle of the two older men, holding their waists, Adam squishing him and Shiro’s big warm arms enveloping the other two. Tears glittered in Keith’s eyes. All he could focus on were these two warm people that currently made him the happiest person in the universe.

Shiro too, was holding back tears as they hid, making the edges of his vision watery with love for the people in his arms, and he beamed, smiling like never before. Adams' glasses were crooked. Sliding down his nose and ruffling the left side of his hair. Keith’s mullet worms it’s way behind the lenses and becomes thick with salty water. His eyes leaking with joy.

After a good while Keith began to reluctantly unfurl from the hug, groaning in protest. His stomach emitting a low rumble. Adam laughed and trussed his hair, making it messier than it already was. Adam cooked dinner with Shiro hugging him from behind and Keith still staring at the papers that made them more of a family, and knowing that he would never leave these two, even if his life depended on it.

They ate supper, grinning from ear to ear, wearing matching expressions jubilation as a proper and fully legal family.

***

It had been a month since Shiro left for the mission. The day before, he finally broke and gave them the important details. They were going undercover to find the whereabouts of the remaining galra, infiltrate their hideout and report back to the ministry.

Every day, Keith and Adam would eat breakfast together then read the daily prophet for news about the mission. Until that fateful August 24th, exactly a week before school started up. Keith ate at lightspeed and ran round the other side of the table just as their news owl flew in through the open window. Adam tipped the bird with a knut and unfolded the paper.

They gaped at it, wearing matching expressions of horror. “Galra intelligence mission failed, aurors believed dead,” read the title. The picture was of 3 sets of clothing. One was recognisably Shiro’s with his wand on top. The other two must have belonged to Matt and Sam.

“No, no, no, no, NO! he’s not gone, he’s not. He wouldn’t leave us, he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t. he’s still here, he’s still alive, he’s he…” Keith began to choke on his words as water clouded his vision. Adam turned to him, wrapping him in a tight hug. Keith felt hot tears on his neck as Adam pressed his glasses into him. The hug wasn’t for him, it was for Adam, for reassurance.

“He promised. He promised he’d stay safe, that he’d come home. He never lied to me Keith, never, not once. Takashi never once broke a promise. He never. He promised, he promised. He.” they stayed standing like that for a while, teetering backwards and forwards. “He’s not dead, I know it,” said Keith in a tone devoid of doubt.

***

Pidge heard her mother shriek. She rolled out of bed and tripped down the stairs and into the kitchen to see how big the mouse was. It wasn’t a mouse. “Mum, it’s too early for…” her mother had seemed to have dropped the newspaper as if it burned her. She went over to it and picked it up by the corner. She simply stared at it then her mother. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” she asked angrily, dropping the offending item with malice.

“Pidgey,” said her mother hoarsely. Her mother never said her nickname, unless it was important. She looked as if she would faint. Pidge ran forwards and buried herself in her mother’s arms as they sank to the floor in a tangled heap of sorrow.

“Matt would never leave me. Dad would never quit. They’re not gone.” She said it as if it was a fact, but it seemed more like a cry of lost hope.

“Pidge, our boys are gone.” They clung to each other like the only survivors of a shipwreck. Pidges fingers clawed at her mother’s blouse, scrunching into fists.

“They are not gone, and I am not giving up. I won’t rest until I have Matt and Dad back.” Her face wet with tears, her fingers raw with pain. She needed it, the pain, she needed it to drown out the darkness. Her mother’s wispy hair tickled her neck and her shoulder was wet with liquid sorrow as she pounded the darkness away.

They weren't dead, it was impossible.

She decided, in a moment of iron determination, that she had to infiltrate the ministry. People gave her and her mother looks of sympathy as they walked through the halls. Her mother distracted the aurors standing by the auror archive.

Pidge slipped in and rifled through the files, finding the Kerberos mission (curses, chronological order, not alphabetical). Inside were the papers on the details of the mission.

There were 3 wands in a paper bag, her father’s willow, brother’s chestnut and Shiro’s cherry. There was also Matt’s apparently now crooked glasses, her father’s monocle and Shiro’s beautiful engagement ring. She stuffed the items carefully into her bag, grabbed the papers and tried to run out the door without being caught.

“Going somewhere little girl?” asked a drawling voice who grabbed her arm. She spun to face Mr. Haxus, her father’s second in command. “Those are top secret files,” he said, snatching the papers from her with more force than necessary.

“What happened to my father and brother? I will find out!”

“The ministry’s secret’s will not be breached by a little girl.” He thrust her aggressively squirming into the arms of her awaiting mother. She sighed and walked off with Pidge lagging behind, clasping her hand tightly.

“I’ll find the truth, I’ll never stop!” she shouted, anger rife in her throat. “I don’t doubt you Katie, but one day all that curiosity and brashness will get you killed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost most of my work after completing and had to rewrite it. It was heartbreaking but my amazing best friend and editor managed to calm me down and make the chapter so much better. I love her so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you finish the book and the rest of series.


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